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Umm.
And you're really well. And with my fault, there's a name for everyone.
Again, I'm hard. We're just gonna go.
I crawled and made them sleep.
On the shedding glory to grace.
Room 3 1000 drive by. Crying out loud. Ah.
During the past has been.
The ringing well.
By for every need, and that's prosperity.
God, don't worry.
Though, uh, whatever.
Right, shall we go on this Chapter 2?
Yes.
First John, chapter 2.
My little children, these things right unto you, that you sin not 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. Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep his commandments. He would say, if I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. The truth is not in him, but whoso keepeth his word, and him verily is the love of God perfected.
Here by know we that we are in Him, He abideth in Him. Ought himself also to walk, even as He walked, rather than I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which He had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which he have heard from the beginning, and 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 till now he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hated his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whether he goeth because of darkness.
Has blinded his eyes.
I read unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him, that is, from the beginning. I run unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked round one. And I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I've written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him, that is from the beginning. I've written unto you, young men, because you're strong, and the word of God abideth in you.
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And you have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For 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, and the loss thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time. And you have heard that the Antichrist shall come.
Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that this is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us, For if they had been of us, they would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I've written unto you, because you know not. I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lies of the truth.
Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, He is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.
Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning, that if that which he 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 had promised us, even eternal life. These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduced you. But the anointing which He had received of Him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is in truth, and is truth, and is no lie. And even as as it has taught you, ye shall abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming, for you know.
That he is righteous, For if he know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.
It's helpful to see in this chapter.
In, uh, Mr. Darby's translation.
Verse one when it says my little children.
He puts it my children.
In verse 12 I read unto you children. In verse 28 and now children.
And the words we have used as children in verse 13 and then again in verse 18 is a different word in the Greek. It's so the ones in verse one and verse 12 and verse 28 include the whole family of God.
In verse 13 when it says little children and in verse 18 it's talking about those who.
Our newest in the family of God and it's a question of growth. So you have in verses 13, uh, in that center section, fathers, young men and children. It's different measures of growth in the family of God. I just wanted to point out that verse one, verse 12 and verse 28 is children. It's a different word and it includes those 3 verses the whole.
Family of God, I think it's helpful to see that.
Deuteronomy 22.
Connection with that verse that says, If any man's sin, we have not located the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and in Deuteronomy 22 Thou shall not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray and hide thyself from them. Thou shalt in any case bring them.
Again unto thy brother. And I would just like to extend that thought to how the Lord in his advocacy. I'm not sure if that's pronounced properly, but.
I mean you would use also.
Others believer other believers to, uh, carry out what we have in tightness 22nd chapter to be concerned one for another. That wouldn't be one of the ways the Lord who is our advocate would uh.
00:10:13
Bring us back.
There is no excuse for sin in the life of a believer, is there?
It's the result of giving the flesh a place.
And responding to it when it should be kept in a place of death. But we sent. That's the reality of the matter. And when we do sin, we have an advocate. And that's the word. It's the same word that's used in John's Gospel chapter 141516 as the comforter. Same word. It's the one who represents us.
Before God. You know in Revelation chapter 12 it says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. We sin and he flies into the presence of God to accuse us.
And if it were not for the presence of the Lord Jesus there.
Who knows what would happen, but there is one there, God's right hand whose hands were pierced, and he's interceding for us. He intercedes in two ways as our great High Priest to help us in our infirmities and weaknesses.
So that we would not sin. But when we do sin, then he intercedes as our advocate to restore us to communion. And so the Lord Jesus basically says Satan accuses us, and perhaps what Satan accuses us of is true. The Lord Jesus says, I'll take his case.
And I died for him and I'll work with him. So it's interesting what it says here. Jesus Christ the righteous doesn't say the merciful, the righteous.
And I think the reason why it says that is because of what we have in verse two. He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
Propitiation is not part of the work of Christ, that is towards God.
And in the work of Christ, he is so satisfied God's holy character that God is not compromised in his character when he comes to deal with us in view of the fact that we may have sinned, He's not compromised. Why? Because the one that's interceding our cause is the propitiation for the whole question of sins.
That's wonderful, brethren, to realize his presence there.
Resale Should we get discouraged? We need to be humbled and not discouraged. We have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Be good to consider that.
That first verse says, my children, I write unto you these things that ye sin not because he has been speaking about the fact that we have sin in US and that we need to confess our sins. So this is something that happens to believers that they sin, but it should be considered an uncommon thing. So it doesn't say when we sin as if that is the regular thing, but if we sin, so there's provision on God's part for us to never sin. We read that yesterday in the he that is born of God cannot sin. That's the life that we have a life that can go on without sin.
And as everyone of us need to confess, we we, we don't go on without sin, but so if we sin, but these things are written that we might not sin. And so let's.
Uh, deal with that too, that provision of the Lord for us to go on for him without grieving his Spirit. And if it happens and we know it happens, there's that provision, but let's not.
Stop looking at that provision that's available for us to go on and on and out says, well, it's a common thing. No, it's an uncommon thing. It's an unnatural thing for a believer to sin.
On the great Day of Atonement, 2 goats were taken.
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And the first goat was killed, and his blood was taken into the holiest of all and sprinkled on the mercy seat.
That's propitiation, those two cherubims that look down at that golden plate. The mercy seat saw blood sprinkled there.
God's holy character was satisfied with the blood that the Lord Jesus shed. That's towards God.
Then the high priest came out, and he.
Took the other goat, which is called the scapegoat, and put his hands.
On the head of that goat, and confess the sins of the people. And that goat was let out into the wilderness and let go.
That's the Lord Jesus as our substitute and I think it is shows the beautiful and and perfection of the work of Christ. Brethren, He is the propitiation for our sins towards God. He is our substitute to take away our sins and sometimes we're not clear in how we express the truth of God.
Never says in Scripture Christ died for the sins of the whole world.
Connection with substitution.
If that were the case, God would not be righteous in putting the Sinner into hell if he died for the sins of the whole world. How could he do that if the Lord Jesus has already paid for him? But it says he died for the sins of many, for those who would trust in the Lord Jesus, And God knew who they were, and those he died for them as a substitute. But here we have the propitiation sometimes given an illustration.
What would you think of a judge who every time a criminal was brought before him, said?
We're going to just forgive you.
What was your crime? Murder. We'll just forgive you. What would you think of that judge Say that's not a good judge. Why not?
He doesn't respect the law and its consequences.
And that's why it's so important, this question of propitiation. This is the part of the work of Christ that is towards God. God's holy character has been vindicated, fully vindicated, so much so that God is not compromised in his character when he comes out.
To forgive the guilty Sinner. Like it's so beautiful to see the perfection of the work of Christ. In that way, brother, Lord Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.
He also is our substitute. Just give you a verse for that in Hebrews Chapter 9.
Verse 28.
So Christ was once offered to bear.
The sins of many doesn't say at all.
Of many to them that looked for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.
I trust that's clear. I think it is helpful for young people to see the difference between the Lord Jesus as our propitiation. The Lord Jesus is our substitute.
Maybe others could help on that too.
Romans chapter 3, verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation.
Delete that word. There can be also translated mercy themes.
Through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
So God can be just in connection with our sins as a result of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus and that connects closely with first John chapter one when we had yesterday in verse 8-9.
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If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just just and forgiveness our sins and cleanse us from all our history. The reason that God can be just in forgiving our sins is because of the shed bloods of obesity work of the Lord Jesus on the top.
You have it in Romans 3 also I believe in.
Verse.
22.
The righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all.
And upon all them that.
Unto all, for the whole world.
The the cover of the ark is, is, uh, in French, it's a propitiatory same. That's the word really. It's called mercy seat in English, but that's what it is. It's a covering. So here's the Lord Jesus. He's a covering or our sins and not for the sins of the whole world, for the whole world. It's available. It's unto the whole world.
But it's only efficacious for those that believe, and so the value of it is applied to those that believe. But it's available for all. And I believe it's part of what ha God has as his motive for patience towards this world is that he has a sacrifice that has satisfied him and He has a provision for this whole world and he can afford to wait as he strives with the spirit of men to bring them into blessing.
Because he has a propitiation for the whole world, the Lord Jesus himself.
So we can say to the whole world you can be saved. The bloods on the altar, there's a way to come and there's no excuse for anyone. Nobody will be able to say in that day I was one of the elect, I couldn't be saved. Nobody because the blood's on the altar and anyone can come. Whosoever will may come.
I've enjoyed it this way and I've been accused of thinking outside the box a little bit, so I've been inside the box.
In that in Romans chapter 15 right next to the verse 3 which says Christ pleased not himself, this verse that says that things written a fourth time were written for our learning. I've enjoyed the thought that the Lord chose the people of Israel.
A little nation to show, indeed. The whole world.
What He has done with them is doing and will do is for all mankind. So I liken it this way and please correct me if I step outside that box and get myself in trouble with it and, and I'll come back to appreciation and salvation. Umm.
Umm Israel and Egypt.
Under Joseph and the first Pharaoh was in a sense like Adam in in creation. Adam and Eden was perfect, you might say.
But then there was another pharaoh. Something came in and spoiled their time in Egypt.
And that's sin. Sin entered the world, as we know, in Adam's day, and so there is need of deliverance in Egypt.
And you're under our ******* taskmasters. We know the 2nd Pharaoh's a picture of statement. I believe the picture of Egypt in that situation, the picture of mankind after sin came in needing deliverance but no way of escape.
And we know from Romans 6 that the wages of sin is death. The reporter could be deliverance. There had to be death. The Angel of death had to come in.
And so the Angel of death does come in before there is deliverance, and he speaks to the land, and it's the eye of God looking at one thing, the blood. The Lamb was slain, but the blood was on the outside.
Doorpost was for the eye of God. God was now looking on the inside for individual faith.
It's not individual faith.
His propitiation.
His propitiation.
They could be delivered until the Angel theft came in, but the Lamb was slain and the love was put on the door as I understand it, and that after that they could be delivered.
They would come out and go to the Red Sea, and the Red Sea is a picture of now the power of sin is the sin question being dealt with. They're not sins, the sin question and now.
The Red Sea deliverance. From that the enemy comes, you might say, but he has no power. He's he's dies in the sea. Sin has no more power in that.
00:25:02
Thought as that has been put away. Now they come through the Red Sea into the wilderness, but what comes out of Egypt is everyone. It's not it's it's the males, the females and women, it's the children, it's the cattle. It's all deliverance. Just as so I have gone, but the Lord has done for propitiation is cleansed everything.
In the wilderness, some fall. They all don't make it.
Hebrews tells us they die because of unbelief. They don't cross the Jordan. The Jordan is the death and the burial and the resurrection. They don't get into the promised land as many have not the faith.
Because propitiation is not salvation.
Appreciation is the ability now for all mankind to come out. All may come, whosoever will may come, but there has to be no individual face. All of that committed peace. Israel and not all Israelis, says the olive red faith and the Oliver crossed the Jordan into the promised land.
They fell in the wilderness like mankind. Now to gospel being preached. All are not coming in, but the olive opportunity.
That's one salvation, that's next. The salvation is the what I see. It's the it's Jordan going into Jordan, the death of Christ, died with him, buried with him and risen the newness of life. So I've enjoyed it that way. Heritation is the offer for all mankind that all may come and that that blood that was there on the doorposts, propitiatory blood, but I have gone and destroyed out of the individual faith afterwards to enter into the land.
Does that make tremendous help?
The blood on the door that protected them from the judgment of God was, was nothing else. Like you say, they were still in Egypt. And so that was the basis upon which then they could proceed out of Egypt across the Red Sea.
And then like you say, there's a lot of different pictures that we have to take one by one, I guess.
The two other verses that are health, one is in First Timothy 2 and the other in Matthew 20.
First Timothy 2.
35 and six.
Where there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom.
For all.
To be testified in due time and then the other one is in Matthew 20.
And verse 28.
Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And so there's that little word for for all.
And first Timothy for many, and Matthew.
And Matthew, the sense of that word for is on.
Uh, or in the, in first Timothy two, it's on behalf of and there it's all he gave himself a ransom on behalf of all.
But in Matthew, where it's just for many, not all, it's in the stead of many.
Instead of many.
And again, there's that thought of Matthew and substitution. He took our place.
He stood in my sense when he hung on Calvary's cross, but he also was a ransom on behalf of all, all mankind. And so the offer can go out freely to all. So don't be afraid when you speak to a lost souls, if you're preaching the gospel, to freely say he was a ransom for you, my friend, because the Scripture said that. But it's good for us as believers to understand the difference between those two things because there are many.
Errors that have come in to Christianity on account of not understanding the distinction between those two truths. And they've divided Christianity into two great camps, and one of which is correct Calvinism and Arminianism.
I'd like to also take up an expression that was used the sin question, a pondering that recently because we use it so often, he answered the same question. What's the same question?
00:30:11
What is the same question?
The Zen question is that God is light.
And he is holy, and man's sin was an insult against God in all his holy nature.
Of what he is as light.
And it called into question what he is.
What is he going to do? Sin is come in.
It's called into question the very nature of God.
Christ answered the same question on Calvary's cross, and we see God vindicated for all that He was in His Holiness.
And all that he is in light.
Was seen in the judgment of sin when Christ was made sin on Calvary's cross.
And the question is answered, Yes, He is holy and he will not.
Tolerated and He judged it thoroughly in the person of His Son, and He manifested what He was in life and His righteousness and all that He is in perfect consistency with His nature. As light was upheld, righteousness was established. Jesus Christ the righteous is our advocate with a Father.
The sin question is settled forever in the sight of God. All that God is in His holy nature has been.
Not only upheld, but glorified.
Glorify.
On Calvary's cross.
And that forms a wonderful basis then that is presented to us here. We're walking in the light. He can bring us into the light positionally, never to leave it again. Why? Because that question was settled forever.
That the force for this team, would you say?
What John's said and John 129 Behold the Lamb of God that beareth away.
The sin of the world He saw in that person, the one who was going to answer through God above the whole question of sin and our sins.
Yeah. And it is not fulfilled yet completely, is it? That's right. Form the groundwork for the completion, which will be that we find at the, uh, end of Revelation, it is done.
I guess we're getting away from the subject here of just propitiation and connection with with when we sin.
And I think you can take that up with what Brother Michelle said of being a help to those who have gotten away from the Lord in their souls. And sometimes they're at a loss. They seem to be at a loss as to how to return, is that if we're going to be a help to them, we can't gloss over sin. Sin has to be faced. And to just kind of gloss over it is not going to be a help, Jesus.
As our propitiation, he has answered to God fully as to a God's fully character. And on that basis he is our advocate, our righteous advocate. So if we're going to be a help to souls, we should be merciful, but don't do it at the expense of righteousness. That won't help in the end. Cannot ignore that part of it.
You agree with that, Michelle? Yes. It's, uh, that beast has fallen by the wayside, I mean.
It's not by going in with him on by the wayside saying, well, that's all right, you know, that's.
Moses couldn't lead the people into the Promised Land.
Appreciation, as we said, was for those who that all might come out, substitution for those who do.
Moses is the Lawgiver, speaks with the righteous judgment of God, and so he could not lead the people into the land. That would be Joshua picture of the Lord Jesus himself grace. So Joshua the one that leads the people into the promised land.
00:35:06
And then he passes off the scene if you go back to the book of judges.
For verse.
Early judges.
You get this.
Chapter 2.
For seven.
And the people serve the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel, who had seen all the great works of the Lord. And Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old, and buried themselves. Joshua leads him into the land. And then Joshua died. And they went on well as long as Joshua was with them. So with sight, with the sight of the give way. Now the faith just as ours we have, we have never seen the Lord Jesus that we live by faith in that sight.
So they were to go on, they were going to possess the land. But if you look at the chapter one repeatedly in chapter one, as the children now go on to put make possession of this land, it says verse 21, the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites.
27 Neither did Manasseh drive out.
And in general, further 29 either the E3 and drive with the Canaanites, neither Zebulun the novice of kitchen and so on. They fail as it were to drive out those things. So Joshua, we come into the land as a blessing into those in this inheritance that we have. It's ours now because we probably force before it's our it's our standing. We're in the land every one of us in this room that knows the Lord Jesus Christ in the land entitled to all the blessing but.
What prevents me?
From enjoying those things, our Josh was gone back.
I looked at faith to him to direct how I have to put away those things.
And there are six peoples here in Judges that they come across and each one represents a certain thing that will prevent me, as it were, from accessing those crews we're we're talking about in the communion and enjoying those things. So it was Joshua that had to lead them into the promised land, not Moses, because it speaks of the righteousness of God. And that shed blood that was on the door. But it's the the grace of God that would lead us. Otherwise we would never get in as we as we know.
The Lord said to Peter, when he said he would, even if all others didn't, he would call the Lord even to death. He said, I prayed for thee.
05 feet fell out. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Or when he was restored, he wasn't restored. There was he that didn't come till after the cross. But the Lord's advocacy represented in that prayer was immediate.
And I think it's the same with us. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. His advocacy enters in immediately, long before restoration, immediately. He's an advocate and on a wonderfully righteous basis. And so it's maintains us, doesn't it? It's part of that, maintaining us in that place of being in the light.
And uh.
He comes immediately in with his prayer.
Good to notice too, that in the, uh, in that first verse that it says we have an advocate with the Father and.
In other words, the relationship that the child of God is brought into is an unchanging relationship.
That doesn't change. Communion is broken, but the relationship is not broken.
And the and the writing here was that the child of God may be restored to the relations and the enjoyment of the relationship, which really is communion with the Lord.
Verse three we have keeping his commandments.
Verse five we have keeping his word. It's interesting distinction that you have also in John's Gospel chapter 14 and 15.
00:40:05
There are things, brethren, in Christianity. We have commandments.
But they are commandments given to the new man.
As children of God, we have commandments. I would guess we could say very easily that we have many more commandments in the New Testament than we have in the Old.
The Old Testament the commandments were given to man in the flesh, and he had no ability to keep them.
The New Testament God first gives us a life that can do those commandments, and then he gives us the commandments. And so we have lots of commandments here in this book. We have to love one another.
It's given again and again.
It's not love somebody if you think you can. No, it's a commandment to do it.
And it says here, if I do, we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, he that says I know him and keepeth not his commandment as a liar, and the truth is not in him. We have a life that is capable of keeping his commandments. Somebody has put it this way, and I like the way.
It was put in the Old Testament. God said do this.
And you will live.
In the New Testament, God says live and you will do this.
That puts it in a simple way. First gives us the life that is capable of obeying those commandments, and then he gives us the commandments too.
So the New Testament is full of commandments.
Keeping this word seems to me.
Uh, something that is larger.
Sometimes give the illustration if a father has two sons.
Maybe both of the boys are obedient to the commands that the father may give.
But there is one of the sons that loves to stick around his father and converse with his father, and he knows his Father's word. The word is the full expression of all his thoughts. So keeping His word is more than just merely keeping His commandments. And so it says here, verse 5. Whoso keepeth his word in him, verily.
Is the love of God perfected? Hereby know we that we are in Him.
Romans, chapter 13.
Versus 8 to 10?
Reads Romans 13, verse eight. Oh no man anything but to love one another, For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandments, if this briefly comprehended in this saying, mainly, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Blood work is don't feel to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The characteristic of that new life that we've had enough.
Like OK, but he gave commandments of times but there were three of his.
Uh, valiant men that were close to him and one day heard.
David expressed a desire.
Oh, that somebody would give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.
Those three men, it was not a command, it was a word expression of his desire. Those three men, at the danger of losing their life, broke through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well and brought it to David. That's an example of keeping His word. It's been brought out at these meetings how the Lord Jesus has given us a word. His desire is that we remember Him.
In his death, until he comes.
That's a word.
If you really love him, think about it.
Uh, brother Bob, how did they hear? They had to be close enough to.
To the to hear it the desires of his heart.
And it's an exercise for us is how close are we to the heart of God that we can hear even his thoughts or his small, uh, desires? These men overheard it, so to speak.
00:45:09
But they were listening.
That desire that David had and they obeyed. And it's an exercise process.
Interesting that that woman and John 8.
That was caught in adultery. What? What's your name again?
Yeah, I don't know what her name is. What are the names of those men that gave David the desire of his heart? It's not told us either. Beautiful discretion of the Lord in connection with the covering of sin. Any man's sin, everybody doesn't know, have to know about it. And so.
I think that's very precious in connection with John eight. It was a serious sin, but the Lord doesn't tell us who it was and so.
And in connection with the privilege of remembering the Lord, as I believe really suggested in that desire of David, in connection with the place of his birth, our Lord's desires in connection with the place of his death.
That we don't know who they were. And it's, uh, it's nice for us to consider it. It's not important to be known and recognize ourselves in, in this great privilege. And so the Lord covers what needs to be covered. And we need to cover those things that we might be proud of and elevate ourselves above our brother.
What brother, uh, Bob said earlier, the difference between his commandments and his word. We might say his commandments are certainly His word, but we couldn't inverse that and say his word or his commandments as if his word was limited to the commandments. It's again much broader. I'd like to look at 3 verses. I think they were looked at earlier in the meetings, but just to bring them together in the Gospel of John.
The first one is chapter 6.
John chapter 6 and verse 63.
It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And then Peter says in the end of verse 68, thou hast the words of eternal life. His words were life, eternal life. Now look at.
John chapter 8 and verse 25.
Then said they unto him, Who art thou?
Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning, are absolutely what I speak unto you are altogether what I say unto you. He was exactly what His word set out. And what were His words? His words were like they were eternal life. And who is He? He is that eternal life. He was altogether what His words were, and His words were life and His life.
Now go to the 12Th chapter of John.
And verse 49.
For I have not spoken of myself or from myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. So the words that he spoke were given to him, has been brought out earlier in the meetings from the Father, every word. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. The words that he spoke were from the Father.
Those words were life everlasting. The words that he spoke were life and that they were the exactly what he was.
The eternal life. And then when we come to our chapter.
Whoso keepeth his word, verse five. In him, verily is the love of God.
Perfectness.
He was the full revelation of grace and truth. He was the full revelation.
Of all that the Father was, he was the Word, the full revelation of all that God is communicated the Word to you and to me. And those words that he spoke were altogether what he essentially was. And he is that eternal life, the Word communicated to us and not only revealing all that God is as the Word, the Logos, but God as Father, which is.
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Everything that you and I as creatures could ever know.
About God, you can't get past that as creatures. Everything that you and I could ever or will ever know about God as God, as Father. And he fully revealed the Father. The words that the Father gave him were life, eternal life. That words been communicated to you. You were born again by that word.
Its seed is in you. And if we keep that word, those words of eternal life.
The love of God is perfected in us because in those words of eternal life He is fully revealed.
And so all that He is in love and grace to you and me.
The love of God becomes perfected in us. It's far broader than just the commandments themselves.
But it is that divine life communicated to you and I His words, eternal life.
And it has a wonderful result in us that the love of God and the enjoyment of that love and its overflow to those around us is perfected in US.
Is that what we have Brother Steven in chapter 5 or?
12 year verse 20.
After 530 money and.
I believe that it's what you were thinking of and the understanding that we have of God, we have within right through Christ.
Umm.
Adverse and John 1250.
I know that his commandment is life. Everlasting helps us to understand returning returning to our chapter.
Two and verse 7.
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which he had from the beginning. That expression occurs a number of times in this chapter.
Notice in verse 13, write unto you Fathers, because you have known him, that is from the beginning. Verse 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning, and it appears in verse 24 as well. Let him that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning.
Eternal life manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus when He was here.
That is the old commandment, the one that was from all eternity. But then come down to verse eight of our chapter again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, So that the new commandment, brethren, is eternal life now the same life that is in Him.
Is in US, manifested in us now. That's the new commandment. So it's beautiful to see. This commandment is like eternal. The old commandment is that eternal life that was manifested in the person of the Lord Jesus. The new commandment is what is true as well in us now.
John 13 and 34.
John 13 and 34, a new commandment I give unto you.
That you love one another as I have loved you. That you also loved.
And we're not able to do that.
But here's a new commandment. Again, love one another.
And we find the source of that love.
The Lord Himself, that He loved one another as I have loved you. We love because He first loved us. And this verse is beautiful because in the center of it you have it twice repeated that you love one another, and I have loved you that you also love one another. A new commandment. It's true in Him and in us now because as we are the object of His love.
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And his lavish shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us, we're able to love.
In the measure that we understand and value his love, we can love as he loves. So it's really a new commandment.
Because it's now true in us, we have the same life that he has and we can love with the same love where with we have been loved.
So we have the question of love in the next verses. I agree brethren, we need to keep on moving here. In verse nine he says he that says he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. This is the opposite of bloody verse 10. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. I think that's beautiful.
Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
When you really love a person, you're not going to get offended, brother.
That's what it says here. There is none occasion of stumbling in him when there is that right love, that love that is characteristic of the believer in the Lord Jesus. But as we were saying yesterday.
God John puts things in black and white and so in verse.
9.
You have the black. In verse 10 you have the light, the white, and in verse 11 you have the black.
He speaks of that which is. Sometimes the word is used abstract, but it's it's characteristic.
And it's put there so we can discern, Brother, where do we stand in connection with these verses?
In verse 12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. That applies to all the children of God, the whole family of God and the verses that follow we have the three different groups within the family and he addresses.
Those three groups twice in a brief form in verse 13 and then in a fuller form in the verses that follow.
Can't help but notice as we read down many times it says if we say he, let's say it if we say he doesn't say it. Professional things and so.
It's Christianity profession or doing it.
I can say I love you.
But if I really love you, maybe I'll have to say it because it'll be manifesting however I behave. So he, let's say it, I say I'm a Christian.
I'm a Christian. What am I Christ like? I profess to belong to him. What responsibility? So the Lord could say he was absolutely what he said.
And we know we fail, but couldn't we extend that to say that if we let that life that is in US manifest itself to the extent that it can, and that it made by the partnership of God, we too would be what we say?
Simon, Magus and Axe.
Confessed or made a profession, didn't he? And he was baptized, and then he manifested himself for what he was by trying to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he was looked upon as some great person in that locality where he was. And when he was exposed by Peter, he left.
He was perhaps and at least a sample of what developed among what's called Gnosticism, which has its root word that means knowledge, and it's what Paul calls when he talks to dresses. Timothy, Science falsely so-called. Knowledge falsely so-called. And they mixed.
Eastern religion with Christianity, and they preached that, oh, Christianity was just, that was just the beginning. That was just the baby steps. But we've come into polar light. We have knowledge. Paul says it's falsely so-called. We have knowledge. You really aren't perfected yet. You need to learn at our feet. You need to hear the revelations we've been given, John says. They were not of us. They went out from us. They weren't of us.
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If they don't hear us, they're not of God. That is us, the apostles, and they didn't hear the apostles.
But they profess greater light, and now John is coming in and he's addressing this and he says no.
U go back to the beginning. That was not baby steps.
He this that which was from the beginning, that which we the apostles have heard, that which we have seen, that which we have contemplated in our hands that have handled the eternal life was manifested. He says you have everything and if his word, that life giving word is perfected in you, you don't need anything else. And you have an unction from the Holy One to show you all things and the rest. Those that profess to have more light, those that profess to have more revelations, they're just Antichrist. What they're professing and what they're saying is against Christ.
And it was, and it manifested itself in all kinds of wickedness. They said they were in the light, but they hated their brothers.
They said they knew knew Christ, but they denied he was the son of the Father.
They deny that he was come in flesh.
And they introduced all kinds of wicked doctrines into Christianity. And the apostle is addressing that. And he says you have everything, you have Christ. You don't need any of what these are saying is new life, additional light. They're just walking in darkness. They don't have light at all. And here's the proofs of it. You can see it in their life.
They hate, they deny who your Savior really is, they attack the truth of this person and He brings them back to the beginning, always brings them back to the foundation that they might not be tripped up into those things that Satan was trying to introduce into Christianity. Where did the Lord find John when he called him as his disciple? He was mending that Saint John and his epistle is mending the Nets that had been broken.
By these false things. And He's weaving it back together, and he's bringing us back to the beginning and giving us that which is foundational and which is true. And he's exposing the character of those who have brought in that which is false. And so that's why he says, I've written unto you Father's because ye have known him, that is from the beginning. You don't say anything else. If you've got that, you've got it all. And he doesn't have any additional exhortation or anything to the Father's you.
Got a full mature knowledge and enjoyment of Christ, You got it all.
You don't need anything else. You've got everything. You have the words of eternal life.
As complete maturity, isn't it? And that's why verse 14 he says exactly the same thing. There's nothing beyond that. Go beyond that is to get into error is to know the Lord Jesus and the full revelation of who God is wonderful, wonderful reality. That's maturity. How many of us get there? I don't think we have to analyze that, but that's what God would have us to be.
Mature as to our apprehension of Christ, so often it happens, brother, and the Lord manifests it, that maybe we get attacked on something.
And we defend ourselves. Well, that's a lack of maturity. Not saying that it's right to attack somebody. Remember a brother, the story of a brother, and I'm not sure who it was, but he was attacked in a meeting one time. Several people really called him down.
And after.
It was over, my brother said to him. The brother in question, What do you have to say about it, brother?
He said, uh, they haven't said anything against the Lord Jesus. I really don't have anything to say.
That's maturity.
So rather than how are we? Is Christ everything to us? It's easy to say, but sometimes circumstances manifest that there's other things that are working inside.
The next group is the young men and the 13. He just says to them, I write unto the young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.
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But in verse 14, he begins after addressing the Fathers in the middle of the verse.
And he says things that are very helpful, especially for young men. Those that are strong, the word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the wicked one.
And then comes the exhortation, 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. Goes on to talk about all that is in the world.
Very helpful.
I would guess we could say when we look at these three groups in the family of God, we all are little children.
Perhaps, umm, our young men?
Perhaps you said her father's?
When he writes to the father as he repeats the same thing.
It's not as though they had reached a level there was nothing more to learn.
But they had their gaze fixed on the person whom to know is like eternal. And so the apostle Paul says that I may know him and the power of his right direction. I doubt not that he was a father, and so was John, and so it was Peter, growing grace and in the knowledge of him.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ, so this is the object in God's heart, and this becomes the object in the hearts of the Father.
Everything else is accessory to the person of the son and the knowledge of him. And it's something that you just keep growing in. You might say it's not a level that you've attained and you're, and you've graduated, you're, uh.
The person of the Lord has become what the Father wants Him to be before your soul of mine and will. Eternity will not suffice for us to to know Him more and more.
So we've had about.
Commandment to love one another. Here's another commandment. Love. Not the world. That's a commandment too. What is the world?
Soon as Joshua passed off the scene, they raised the question about.
Who shall go up first?
Ask the Lord, he shall go up first, and the answer is the pattern I believe and Judah.
I'll go 1St and it says Judah Prosimian when you go with me. And in those two I believe is and is the pattern for us.
I sense that the floor wants to bring us from Romans to Ephesians when the Ephesians would get to a place where he is made, is raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places.
And I think that's the highest truth, isn't it? In the land anyway, Judah speaks a phrase and Simeon hearkening with obedience. So trust and obey is a secret of patterns seems to be possessing the land and so, but in going from Romans to Ephesians as it did for them. I just want to mention them really quickly. There's a number of peoples that think they have to overcome. One was the one was the Canaanites.
Canaanites are traffickers, Speaking of merchandise. So this is the thing that.
Really involvement, I might say we get sidetracked. And so they were captive by that for a period of time, 18 years or so. And that would speak to us of one of the traps that peep sauces that were from accessing the heavenly truth and enjoying those things. And we need to book a job for that. Love, not the world, but we're in is the answer to that. But the first group was the Mesopotamians.
And they speak of exaltation.
Idolatry.
And so it's.
You need the book of Romans so that get back as a work to a place where they, uh.
Where we see ourselves as we're in Gilgal, but there's others as well that came along the, the, uh, Dominion Heights, for example, speak of, uh, stress or striking contention.
Attending and, uh, they were captive by that for quite a while. And so it is with us too, in accessing these things here, this truth that we're trying to appreciate. It's we need the book of Philippians.
For this mind me and you which is in Christ Jesus. So it's patterns. Therefore us and so your father mentioned that because things to overcome and we might come together to sit together and enjoy those seventy places together in Christ Jesus.
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We have we need that advocate because we.
Cannot do it on our own. So it's Judah praise and Simeon willingness to go with true trust and obey. I think the, uh, the burden here of the apostle in this chapter is that the world interferes with communion. And so he says here in that 15th verse.
Love not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world.
The, uh, the world is.
Is everything that is that with God left out?
And that's the world you and I live in. We go away from these meetings and we go back home and we face the world. And John says 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. And I enjoy in my simplistic way. And just like this, you can't enjoy the world and enjoy the love of God at the same time.
It's impossible. You can't enjoy the world all week long and go to meet meeting on Sunday morning and express and expect to just enjoy the presence of the Lord like turning on the tap. It doesn't work that way. And so it tells us in Jude, keep yourselves in the love of God in the day of apostasy that we have there in the book of Jude. That's a burden of the apostles to keep yourself in the love of God.
So you know, it's it's interesting the way he puts it here. It's all all that is in the world is only three things appeals to three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, not of the father, but is of the world. And someone has put it this way in connection with that verse 16 that the lust of the flesh is the desire to have.
For possession and the lust of the eyes is the desire to see, and the pride of life is a desire to be.
That's all the world is about, it's put.
Broken down into those three classes, it has nothing else to offer.
3 verbs we use all the time be, have, and do.
And that is what the world has for the natural men. We have the same apostles as God so loved the world. It's not in the same sense as we have it here. God loves the world of sinners lost. He loves the human beings in the world, but he doesn't love the world system and all that is in the world a caters to the flesh and leaves God out as you suggested.
I've enjoyed a verse recently in, uh, first Peter.
But it encouragement first Peter chapter one and verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy, hath.
Regardless, again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the dead. This is the verse I was thinking of. Notice there's three things here to an inheritance incorruptible, so I believe answers to.
Opposite of the left of the flesh, undefiled answers to the opposite of the loss of the eyes, and that fades not away. Which has to do with time, which is the opposite of umm, the pride of life reserved in heaven for you.
That's what our portion is and I just enjoyed getting the world offers the opposite of that. It offers what crops, what defiles and what's and what fades away with time. So we have been given the very opposite side, a living home, an inheritance incorruptible and defiled, and a faith not a way deserved in heaven.
11/17 and shot. So it says there the world passed away and the lusts are out, but either doeth, the will of God abideth forever.
The thought there, I think in connection with doing the will of God and abiding forever.
Whatever we do to please the Lord has an effect that will last forever and forever.
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For him in the back of the book, have I an object, Lord below. And then verse three says, be thou the object, bright and fair to fill and satisfy the heart. This is the object of the Lord Jesus. He wants us to be occupied with him. Perhaps we can sing that hymn 46 to the back of the book.
I've got my heart and a breath through the bird.
May I know this tomorrow 1934?
We're asking you to go ahead and let me do anything. By the way, I really have a together.
Whatever you want to do, you don't know.
Call 05780 17830.
All right, I say to the color of. That's the difference.
And mom and boy, are you Singapore homework or something?
Sort of in connection with the with the him, we just saying First Thessalonians chapter one.
And verse 9.
Where they themselves show of us what manner of entering in.
We had unto you, and how these three things Here ye turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the coming wrath of prayer.