A New Commandment

Sometimes the Scriptures say things that can be a little bit confusing. When I first looked at them, I found that today we’re going to be in First John, chapter two, verses seven through eight. These verses say some challenging things, but as we get into it, we see that God has a new commandment for us to walk in and live in.

So, open with me to First John, chapter two. Amen! They sound good, don’t they? I’m so glad to see you guys braved the torrential downpour this morning to come here. Praise the Lord! This is like a San Diego hurricane right here; this is dangerous stuff. They’ll probably have a storm watch tonight on the news.

Would you guys stand with me and take out your Bibles? If you don’t have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Alternatively, you can download the YouVersion Bible app and open it on that. We’re going to be in the book of First John, which is near the end of your Bible. If you open to the very last book of the Bible, Revelation, and turn a little bit to the left, you’ll find First, Second, and Third John, and Jude.

First John, chapter two, is on page 2031 in my Bible, which will be of no help to you, but it’s near the end.

First John, chapter two, verse one: “My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.”

Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you. It is true.

Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining, he who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Father, as we consider this passage today, I pray that you would open blinded eyes. Open our eyes that we would see, understand, and comprehend what your word is to us, what it is that you desire to speak to us, and how you want to transform us by the renewing of our minds and by the working of your Spirit. So, God, we ask that you would meet us here today. Jesus, you promised that wherever two or more are gathered in your name, there you are in their midst. You also promised that you would send the Spirit of Truth, who would guide us in all truth and teach us all things. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would do that, and that our lives, in a marked way, would be changed and transformed, even if it's just in a small way. God, continue that work of transformation. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, as the church was in its seventh decade of existence, John, who was one of the earliest followers of Jesus, looked at the churches near where he was ministering at that time. Church tradition believes that he was probably living in a part of the world we call Turkey today, but then it was Asia Minor. The chief city of that region was Ephesus, and it's believed that John was living there at this point.

As John looked at the churches of his day, he was concerned. It is worth pointing out that when I say John was concerned about the churches, it would be right to say he was concerned about the Christians of his day because churches are just gatherings of Christians. As he considered the people who made up the body of Christ, the church at his time, he was concerned.

What was the concern that John had? Well, it appears that at this time, near the end of the first century, about 60 to 70 years into the...

The existence of the church saw a teaching beginning to make its way through some of the congregations in the area near Ephesus and Asia Minor. This teaching was starting to affect the way that Christians lived and understood the Scriptures. The people promoting this teaching were using very Christian-sounding words and phrases. John even identifies some of the things they were saying in John chapter 1 and John chapter 2, which we have previously looked at.

They were using phrases like "we have fellowship with God" and "we have fellowship with Him," which are statements a Christian would typically make. Some of these teachers claimed, "we have no sin," or "we have not sinned." They would also say, "we know Him" or "we abide in Him," asserting that "we are in the light." This was the language they employed, and if you heard people using words like that, you would assume they believed as you did. They claimed to have fellowship with Him, to abide in Him, and to walk in the light.

However, despite using similar words, they were promulgating a teaching that led people away from living in alignment with the life and teachings of Jesus. John, the author of this book, had committed himself to the message of Jesus for the last 60 to 65 years. He began walking with Jesus when he was just a teenager, around 15 years old, and had been seeking to live according to the pattern of Jesus and to teach His message.

Now, there were individuals entering the church who were saying similar things to the words of Scripture, but their lives did not reflect the teachings of the Scriptures. In response, John took to writing. He followed the example of another early follower of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, who would write letters to address problems within the church. This is exactly what John is doing in this passage; it is an epistle, a letter from John.

One of the great things about John is that he tends to clearly state his purpose in his writing. In the five chapters of this letter, 1 John, he identifies his purpose in three different verses. The first one we have already looked at is found in 1 John chapter 1, verse 4. If you skip back a few paragraphs to that verse, you will see that at the end of verse 4, he states, "These things we write to you."

That your joy may be full. So, there's His first purpose statement. His next one is found in 1 John 2:1, where he writes, "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin." The third verse is at the end of the letter, in 1 John 5:13, where John says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

What we have in these three verses—1 John 1:4, 1 John 2:1, and 1 John 5:13—are the fourfold purposes of John in writing. He says, first, "I'm writing to you so that you would have fullness of joy." Quick question: How many of you today would say, "I would like to have fullness of joy"? Raise your hand. If you're not raising your hand, you're not listening or you're lying, so start listening and stop lying. We all want fullness of joy.

Blaise Pascal, the French theologian and philosopher from the 16th century, said, "All men seek happiness." I think there's a lot of truth to that. They may seek it in different ways, but all men ultimately are seeking happiness, or maybe we would use the word joy. There are different ways we describe it and find it, but we're all seeking joy. The neighbor who lives next door to you, the person who works in the cubicle next to you, the person on the campus at the school you go to—everybody is seeking joy.

So, John says, "I'm writing these things to you so that you would have fullness of joy." He also says, "I'm writing these things so that you would be holy, that you would not sin." His second purpose has to do with holiness, or I might even say wholeness. The Christian is the person who experiences wholeness of life by the holiness of Christ being worked out in them.

If you look at the people around us today, they are seeking joy and they are seeking wholeness. They feel like something's missing. We sing about things like this, don't we? "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." People are seeking wholeness. So, he says, "I write to you so that you would have joy, that you'd have holiness, wholeness, and that you would also have hope."

The hope that he describes is an absolute certainty. It's not wishful thinking; it is an absolute certainty of eternity. "I'm writing these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life." Now, that's the kind of hope.

I want to have perseverance, assurance, and endurance so that you may continue to believe. In light of John's fourfold purpose in 1 John 1:4 to 1:5 and 5:13, I do not think it is a stretch to conclude that the teaching John was standing against, which he was seeking to combat, was a teaching that would ultimately lead people to a loss of joy, a complacency in obedience, uncertainty in hope, and ultimately to indifference or apathy in faith.

John is concerned that there is this teaching going out from false teachers within the church that will result in the loss of joy, complacency in obedience, uncertainty of hope, and an apathetic indifference in faith. In calling attention to this, it is right to point out that the true gospel results in joy, holiness, hope, and perseverance. The gospel that we preach—the good news, which is what "gospel" means—ultimately results in joy, holiness, hope, and perseverance.

I think it is right that we call it good news. Today, if you find yourself in a place where you are lacking joy—and there are a lot of people in our nation who would express a loss of joy—I want to remind you that the gospel says Christ died for our sins and that He rose from the dead for our justification. This comes right out of the book of Romans, chapter 4, verse 25. He died on the cross for our sins to deal with the problem of our sin, our brokenness, and our fallenness. He rose from the dead so that we would be justified, that He would declare us righteous, just as if we had never sinned.

That is wonderful, joy-producing good news. Our sin, which we try so hard to deal with, is something that every single one of us faces. When we get right down to it, when we are by ourselves and contemplating, when we are assessing the reality of who we are, we all find ourselves broken and fallen. We try to deal with that in various ways—through religious practices, or whatever it may be. Mindfulness is the big thing that people are trying to do.

Today, many people believe that if they are more mindful and meditate, they can deal with their problems. However, we cannot handle these issues on our own. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead for our justification, which is joy-producing. Amen.

If you are wrestling today, as many people may be, with stumbling and ensnaring sin—things that seem to trap and snare you—the Scriptures make it very clear that Jesus not only died for our sins to set us free from the penalty of sin, but He also died to set us free from the power of sin in our lives. Romans chapter 8, verse 2 states, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made you and me free from the law of sin and death." We no longer have to be under the power of sin or the bondage of the taskmaster of sin, which causes us to do the things we don't want to do and prevents us from doing the good things we want to do. We can be set free.

There is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk according to the Spirit, because the Spirit of God has set us free from sin and death. If you find yourself in a place today where you feel hopeless and wish you had a steadfast assurance, like what John talks about in 1 John chapter 5, verse 13, remember that you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life.

We need to remember that the Scriptures teach our salvation is not dependent upon our works; it is dependent upon the finished work of Jesus and His faithfulness to His promise. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 states, "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." My salvation is dependent upon His faithfulness to His promise.

If you find yourself today in a place where you feel like giving up in this race, thinking it is just too hard and that you can't seem to get a handle on these things, I would remind you of the words of the author of the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 12: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him..."

Before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Father. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest we become weary and discouraged in our souls.

John says, "I'm writing to you so that you would have joy—eternal fullness of joy—that you would have wholeness and holiness in your life, that you would have an absolute certainty of eternity, a hope that endures, and that you would persevere in this race."

John was concerned as he looked at the Christians of his day because there was a teaching that was coming in, affecting all of these things. He writes this letter to address that teaching and to call the followers of the Gospel to have their hope steadfastly in Christ.

The chief outcome that John is addressing in this section of Scripture, 1 John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11, is the false teaching that was spreading through the church. This false teaching would continue to spread even after the death of John. It was causing followers of Jesus to follow Him in such a way that their profession of faith did not align with the practice of their lives.

This reminds us of point number two: our professions of faith are proved by our faithful practice. The Christian says, "I know God." That is a pretty audacious claim. The Christian says, "I abide, and I am in God, and I walk in the light." We use our mouths to make these great professions of faith, but those professions must be proved by the practice and practicality of our lives. Our Orthodox statements need to be orthopraxy statements; our practice needs to align with our statements.

When John wrote this, somewhere between the years 90 and 95 AD, it was near the very end of the New Testament letters. It is almost the last letter of the New Testament to be written, followed by 2 John and 3 John, which we will study later on in the year or five years from now, depending on how long it takes us to get through this. John is one of the last writers of the New Testament, and he is expressing this important point: our profession of faith needs to be reflected in our actions.

Aligning with the practice of our lives is essential, but this is not a new teaching. This was the earliest teaching of Christians. The very first letter to be written in the New Testament is believed to be the Book of James. Some of you have read through James before, and in James chapter 2, this might sound familiar to you.

James chapter 2, verse 14 states, "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that profession of faith save him?" He goes on to say in James chapter 2, verse 17, "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." This has caused a huge challenge for Christians from the earliest time that it was written.

About 10 to 12 years after James wrote that first letter, Paul wrote a letter like the Book of Romans, where he made it very clear that Abraham, our father, was saved by faith. This goes back all the way to the Old Testament, specifically Genesis chapter 12. In Genesis 15, verse 6, it says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness." That's the work of justification. When you put your trust in Jesus, His death on the cross and His righteous life are applied to your debt, your sin, and He pays the debt for your sin. That's justification—just as if you never sinned.

However, after that, the work of God's grace continues in our lives to transform us, first by the renewing of our minds and then being worked out in our lives so that our works begin to align with that faith. Therefore, James and Paul are not speaking in conflict with one another. James is simply identifying the first letter of the church, stating that our lives and our professions of faith need to begin to align.

John, now 60 years later, is saying the same exact thing. The consistent teaching of the church from the beginning, in the earliest days and continuing on, is exactly what John writes in this passage. By this, we know—this is the test, the litmus test for the knowledge of God. We know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. If we say that we know Him and do not keep His commandments, then we are liars; our lives do not align with our words. The one who says that they abide in God should walk in the same way that He walked.

John continues in this way in 1 John chapter 2, verse 7.

The focus of our study today, brethren, is important. So underline that in your neighbor's Bible; just reach over; they won't mind. Brethren, this indicates that John is writing to Christians—brothers and sisters in Christ. We are the family of faith.

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. This is the message that has been given to the church from the earliest days.

Now, it is my belief, and many scholars and commentators agree with this, that John, when he writes this, is probably living in Asia Minor, likely in the city of Ephesus. He is living there around the years 92 to 95 AD. If you back up from that point about 35 to 40 years, this church was started by a man named Paul—the Apostle Paul—at the church in Ephesus.

What was the message that Paul preached to the people in the city of Ephesus, upon which this church was built? It was this very clear message: Christ died for our sins; He rose from the dead for our justification. Salvation is by grace, and that grace results in righteousness. Paul said it like this in one of his letters, in Titus chapter 2, verse 11: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared for all people."

So, the grace of God brings salvation; it's available to everybody. And the grace of God, as stated in Titus chapter 2, verse 12, teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us.

Jesus died on the cross so that He might redeem us. From what? He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Why did Jesus save you? He saved you because you couldn't save yourself, and He saved you so that we could walk in righteousness, which we couldn't do under the law. We had no ability under the law to live out righteousness.

So, He saved us so that we could live these things out. We see the teaching of James, the earliest letter in the church, and we see the teaching of John, one of the last letters in the church. We also see the teaching of Paul throughout the time in between, and what we discover is...

Number three: God's Word and will are consistent. His Word and will are consistent; the message does not change, and His desire is the same.

Now, that causes a little bit of a problem because some of you have read ahead. You're go-getters, so you read verse eight, and there's a challenge. In verse seven, John says in 1 John 2:7, "Brethren, I write no new commandment to you," and then, like ten words later, he says in 1 John 2:8, "Again, a new commandment I write to you." It’s these kinds of things that cause people to close the book, scratch their heads, and wonder what these people are talking about. "I write no new commandment to you; a new commandment I write to you." How on earth are we supposed to interpret this?

Well, we need to understand that John had been raised in Judaism. He had been raised under the rabbinical teachers of the first century and prior. It was a very rabbinical way to teach. As a rabbi, Jesus taught this way as well. A teacher would throw out little references or quotes from other passages of Scripture that would stir the listener or the reader to go back and look at what that reference is for.

Now, in our day, we do the same thing, but a lot of times we use verse references. We might say something like, "Yeah, you know, back in Proverbs chapter 3," and there are some people who go, "Okay, I track with that; I understand that Proverbs chapter 3." However, John and Jesus did not have chapter and verse. You realize that the chapters in your Bible—when I say, "Turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 2"—those chapters were not added until about twelve hundred years after this was written. They were only added to make it easier for us to get on the same page.

Rabbis in the first century, including Jesus, would be teaching and then say something like, "You've heard that it has been said," and then they would quote. That would cause their readers to go back and read something that was previously stated. So, John is doing that exact same thing here in this passage. In 1 John 2:7, he says, "I'm not writing a new commandment to you," and then in verse eight, he says, "A new commandment I write to you."

Now, the same author of 1 John, the letter, just before he wrote the letter, wrote a gospel account of Jesus called the Gospel according to John.

Those people who would read 1 John 2:7 might wonder why it states, "I write no new commandment to you," and then in verse 8, "a new commandment I write to you." This seems contradictory and may not align with their understanding. However, an interested reader would go back to John's previous writing in the Gospel of John, chapter 13.

Turn in your Bibles to this passage. If you are in the Epistle of John, turn to the left, and you will ultimately find the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John chapter 13 is about two-thirds of the way through your Bible. In this chapter, Jesus is with His disciples, and the author of this letter and Gospel, John, is present with Jesus on the night that He would be betrayed. One of His closest disciples, Judas Iscariot, would betray Him to the Romans and the chief priests to be killed.

On the night that this happened, Jesus was with His disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem, partaking of the Passover Feast of Israel. During this time, He instituted a new sacrament called the Lord's Supper. As He was with His disciples, He said in John chapter 13, verse 34, "A new commandment I give to you."

So, someone reading 1 John 2:7 and 8 might wonder about the new commandment. They would find that it comes from John chapter 13, verse 34, where Jesus states, "A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

If God's Word and will are consistent, how can we have an old commandment that is new? The command to love one another was not new. In fact, every Jewish person in Israel during the first century knew this command very well. The very first lesson that a Jewish child would be taught was called the Shema, which comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength."

After learning the Shema, they would also learn from Leviticus.

Chapter 19, verse 18, states, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Every Jewish person in Israel in the first century knew the answer to the question, "What is the greatest command in the law?" They would say, just as Jesus would say here, "O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." The second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, says that all of the law and the prophets hang upon these words: "You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor." Therefore, the command to love one another is not a new command; it is an old command, at least 3,400 years old.

However, you will notice in John 13:34, when Jesus sat with His disciples on the night that He would soon be betrayed by Judas Iscariot, He partook of the bread and the cup and said to them, "A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another." It is not new, but it is updated. The command is that you would love one another as I have loved you. This is the updated command. The Christian command is to love one another in the same way that Jesus has loved us.

There is a lot to unpack in that statement. You could spend a lot of time going into the Scriptures and discovering what it means for Jesus to have loved us. But He updates this for His followers, and this is what I believe John is referencing when he says in 1 John 2:7, "No new command do I write to you," and in verse 8, "A new commandment I write unto you." He is calling them to follow Christ's command according to the law of love.

This is why John, just before he said that in 1 John 2:7 and 8, stated, "Whoever keeps His word, Jesus's word, truly the love of God is perfected in that person." By this, we know that we are in Him. How do we know that we are in Christ? We begin to manifest in our lives a love for others in the way that Jesus has loved us. God, through the Gospel, desires to perfect in you and in me His love. But what exactly does that look like? What does it look like to walk as...

Jesus walked and taught others to love in the manner of His teachings. To answer the question of how we should love others, I think one of the teachings of Jesus is particularly helpful. If you still have your Bible open, turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 13. Just keep turning to the left a little bit, and you'll get to the previous Gospel, the Gospel of Luke.

In Luke chapter 10, a lawyer came to Jesus with a question. He was a good, strong Jewish lawyer from the first century, an expert in the law and the Hebrew Scriptures. In Luke 10:25, it says, "Behold, a certain lawyer tested Jesus, saying to Him, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'"

Jesus responded in verse 26, asking, "What is written in the law? You are an expert in the law; what is your reading of it?" The lawyer answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus replied, "You have answered rightly. Do this, and you shall live." However, like a good lawyer, he was looking for loopholes. He followed up with, "Okay, Lord, who is my neighbor?" This is a good question. How will I inherit eternal life? Well, you're a lawyer; how do you read the law? Love God and love your neighbor. But then he asked, "Who's my neighbor, Lord? Tell me who is my neighbor."

To this, Jesus responded in verse 30, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."

Now, by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, who belonged to the priestly tribe in the Land of Israel, arrived at the place, looked at the man who had been beaten, and passed by on the other side.

Now, a certain Samaritan came along. This detail may not mean much to us today, but it held significant meaning for that lawyer who was there with Jesus, and probably for all those listening.

People who are listening to Him at that moment, being astute listeners, would probably have expected that Jesus would have said something like, "And then a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin, not a Levite, not a priest." But He doesn't say that. He says, "A Samaritan came by," and this is pointed because the Jews hated the Samaritans. There was a major racial divide. If you think racism today is a problem, the racism between Jews and Samaritans was like ours times a hundred. They hated them. They used the word "Samaritan" as a slur, a racial slur to address people they despised.

So, Jesus said a Samaritan came, and as he journeyed, he saw the man who had been beaten and taken among thieves and left for dead. He had compassion on him. He went to the man, bound his wounds, poured oil and wine on them, set him on his own animal, and brought him to the inn. He took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, the Samaritan took two denarii—that's two days' wages—and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take care of him, and whatever more than this you spend, when I come again, I will repay."

So, here's the question to the Jewish lawyer: Jesus tells this story, asking, "Which of these do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among thieves?" The lawyer responded, "He who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Now, last week, if you were here, I caused a little bit of a stir, I think, as I was talking about certain doctrinal views on Scripture, specifically regarding Reformed Christianity, Calvinism, and the TULIP sort of view of interpreting the Scriptures. I know I caused a stir because I received several emails, which is good. I'm glad you're listening; that's great.

My goal in bringing this up is not in any way to argue for or against Calvinism. That's not what I'm doing. I'm just saying that there is a teaching that has grown, a resurgence of it in the last 25 years in American Christianity. Calvinism has seen a rebirth or resurgence during this time, and there are ramifications, if you will. There are results and outcomes from this teaching. We could argue, and it has been argued for 500 years, on whether or not it is true or not true, and it will continue to be argued until Jesus comes back. I guarantee you that's not my point. My point is that there may be unintended consequences of everything that we teach.

If we have a strong position on end-times eschatology, there are consequences and ramifications for the things that we teach. The same could be said about something like TULIP. The first point in the five points of TULIP is total depravity. One of the outcomes that I have observed after teaching the Scriptures for 20 to 25 years is that this teaching has affected American Christianity, even among those who do not hold to a Reformed view of theology. It manifests in very interesting ways.

About a month ago, I was involved in a conference where a group of pastors, myself included, were teaching a younger group of guys and gals who are coming up to teach the Bible. During this conference, we discussed Luke chapter 10 as an example. An individual teaching at this conference used the story of the Good Samaritan and said, "Listen, when we teach this message, the proper way to teach this is to see Jesus as the hero in the story." He emphasized that we need to read this in such a way that we see ourselves not as the Good Samaritan, but as the person who was attacked by thieves, dying on the side of the road. He explained that religion couldn't help us; the priest and the Levite passed by, and then Jesus comes to save and rescue us. He is the hero in the story.

Now, I will suggest that this sounds really great, but that is not the interpretation of the passage. How do we know it is not the correct interpretation? Because that is not how Jesus interpreted the story. If your interpretation differs from Jesus's, you might have a problem. How did Jesus teach it? The man asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told him a story to illustrate who the neighbor was. He then asked, "Who do you suppose was a neighbor?" The man replied, "I suppose the guy who showed him mercy." How did Jesus apply it? He said, "You go do likewise."

You see the danger here. I think one of the unintended consequences of this form of teaching, with total depravity being part of it, is that Christians start to believe they cannot fulfill the imperatives of the Bible. They feel unable to follow the commands of the New Testament, where Jesus says to go and be merciful, to show compassion even to people you don't like. Jesus said, "You have heard that it has been said..."

It has been said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." How many of you have heard that said? But Jesus went on to say, "I tell you, love your enemies." I don't like that one, and neither do you. We would much rather take justice and retribution into our own hands. However, Jesus says, "God said, vengeance is mine; I will repay."

Loving our enemies is hard for us, and of course, it's hard because we need God's help by His Spirit to follow the commands of Scripture. But here's the great truth of the Gospel: after having been saved by grace through faith, we have the enabling power of the Spirit of God residing in us, enabling us to follow the commands of Scripture. Will we always do them perfectly? No. And when we fail, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:1-2).

However, that does not absolve our responsibility to do what God has called us to do through the Scriptures and by the enabling power of the Spirit of God. We have no loophole here. The lawyer in all of us can be experts in finding loopholes, asking, "Who can I hate? Can I hate Muslims? Can I hate sinners, pedophiles, homosexuals? Can I hate these people?"

Listen, what do many non-Christians say about Christians today in America? They say Christians are promoters of hate. But what did Jesus say? "A new commandment I give to you, that you would love one another as I have loved you. That you also would love one another."

The call to love as Christ loved is not merely a proposition that we should support scripturally. It is not merely a value that we should uphold as important. It is a lifestyle that we, by the Spirit of God and by His enabling power, should live out in this world. Why? Because immediately following Jesus's command in John 13:34 to love one another as He has loved us, He says this: "By this, all people will know that you are my followers if you have love for one another."

For another, what is the greatest evangelistic evidence of Christ in our lives? Love for one another.

Point number four in your outline: obedience to the law of love is the principal evidence of the Gospel's effect in our lives. I pause because I think we need to consider that. The primary evidence that God's Gospel has had an effect in my life is that I would love people, even the unlovely. Every Christian, Calvinist and non-Calvinist alike, would agree with that teaching.

However, we need to be careful because sometimes there are unintended consequences of our systematic theologies, and we need to think about those. Sadly, there are people, even pastors, whom I know and who are friends of mine, who, just as was happening in John's day 2,000 years ago, make excuses for the lack of obedience. They try to find theological loopholes to justify how that doesn't apply. We have to be very careful that we seek to do all that was given to us in the Scriptures, knowing that that's not what saves us. Christ saved us by His death, burial, and resurrection, but He saved us to be set free from the law of sin and death so that we could live in righteousness.

Back to 1 John 2:9. John says, "He who says he is in the light"—that's what we Christians say; we were in darkness and now we're in light. We were blind, but now we see. We were dead, we were lost, and now we've been found. Oh, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! We say things like we are in the light.

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Now, John is going to talk a lot more about this in the coming chapters, especially at the end of chapter 2 and in chapter 3, so we've got a lot more to look at. But there is a very simple exhortation that flows out of this.

Point number five on your outline: come out from darkness and walk in the light of the love of God. This is the exhortation that God would give to you and me today: come out from darkness. What does the darkness look like that we say we follow?

And love God, but we walk with animosity and hatred towards other people in our hearts. It's a sin that we need to confess. First John 1:9 applies: if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. We need to bring it to the Lord and say, "God, remove this from me." This is entirely possible by the grace and power of God in Christ through the gospel. It was not possible under the law; you and I could not fulfill this under the law. That was the purpose of the law: to show us our inability to keep the commands of God.

But in Christ, we have the ability by His indwelling Holy Spirit. This is why Paul, in Colossians 1:13, tells us that He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has conveyed us to the kingdom of the Son of His love. In Ephesians 5:8, he says, "For you were once in darkness, but now you are the children of light. Walk as children of light and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."

As we close, there are two things to consider. If you have not trusted in Jesus for salvation, to forgive you of your past sin and to begin the work of sanctifying you unto glorification to be with God eternally, I will give you an opportunity to do that in just a moment. Whoever confesses with his mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead shall be saved. That's what Romans 10 says, and that's good news because we all need the forgiving grace of God in our lives.

If you have trusted in Christ today and recognize, through the conviction of God's Word and His Spirit applied to you, that there are areas in which you are walking in darkness, God would say, "Come, confess." If we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness so that we can walk in the light as He is in the light, have fellowship with God, and fellowship with one another, shining brightly to a world that so desperately needs the love of God for salvation.

Amen. Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? God, I pray that You would help us to properly apply the Scriptures.

Enabled by Your Spirit to do so, our desire is that we would be a people who go from this place, endeavoring to fulfill Your commandment to love one another as You have loved us. You demonstrated Your love towards us in that while we were still sinners, You died for us. When we were Your enemies, You loved us to the point of laying everything down for us. Thank God! Would You enable us to love others in the same way?

Lord, shine the light of Your grace and love through us to those close to us—our actual neighbors, family members, and those who may be far away from us. People that we might want to think are not our neighbors, but they truly are. You desire that we reach out to them with mercy and grace.

It may be that as we stand here at this moment, you recognize for the first time your need for the love, grace, and forgiveness of God, and you want to put your trust in Jesus. I want to lead you in a simple prayer to do that today. If you would like to receive the forgiving grace of God and His love applied to you, would you just lift up your hand high so I can see it?

Anyone here today? God bless you, I see you up in the front. Anyone else? Lift up your hand high. Jesus said, "Whoever comes to me, I will not turn them away." So God, right now, is drawing you by His Spirit, and you know that He wants you to receive Him into your heart by faith. Lift up your hand high. Praise the Lord! I see you there in the back.

If that's you, I want to lead you in a very simple prayer of faith. It's not some weird incantation; it's just you talking to God and asking Him to come into your life and transform you by His grace. So if that's you, would you just pray with me out loud?

Dear Jesus, I need Your saving grace. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith? Shine in this world and save me from my sin. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Praise the Lord! God is doing a work. We're going to sing one last song today, and then when we're done, our prayer team members are going to be up here to pray with and for you. If you prayed that prayer today, we'd love to connect with you.

Pray with you and give you a Bible if you don't have one. We want to help you on your way in walking with the Lord. Take advantage of the opportunity to receive prayer today. I know that there are many of you who are in a place of crisis and difficulty, and we want to be able to pray with you because we believe that God hears and answers prayers.