WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.660 John, 1 John chapter 2, and if we could read it verse 28. 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:09.500 ! 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:39.820 His letters, how he gets that title, because love seems to run all the way through all that he says. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:49.900 And even when he sometimes has to challenge his readers and even sometimes rebuke them, it's always done in a spirit of love. 00:00:50.780 --> 00:01:00.640 John, of course, was now an old man, and John had some of the most amazing privileges that any person in this world has ever had. 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:06.039 John, of course, was the disciple whom Jesus loved. 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:15.259 We know that Jesus had 12 disciples, and out of the 12, there was an inner three that were closer to Jesus than the others. 00:01:15.260 --> 00:01:24.939 But out of these three, there was John, and he was the one who leaned on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper. 00:01:26.580 --> 00:01:38.180 And John, of course, was the one who was given the responsibility of taking Jesus' mother home with him after, remember, on the cross how Jesus spoke. 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:45.620 And he said to his mother, behold your son, and to John, behold your mother. 00:01:46.300 --> 00:01:49.420 So Jesus was taking care of his mother. 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:54.440 There's obviously that Joseph had passed away by this time. 00:01:55.100 --> 00:02:00.200 And so Jesus on the cross is making provision for his mother. 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:05.500 And nobody better to trust the care of his mother than to John. 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:12.099 John, of course, was the one who was given the most extraordinary revelation, remember, on the Isle of Patmos. 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:25.599 And he was given the most extraordinary revelation of Jesus Christ, given great revelations of heaven, great revelations of hell, great revelations of future events. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:49.500 And so when John would come to write this and the readers would pick up what he had written, they were aware that they were reading the letter or hearing the letter being read of a man who had unique privileges to see and to hear things that nobody else really in this world had ever heard. 00:02:49.500 --> 00:03:01.979 And John is at pains in this epistle to show us that foundational underneath everything, that love is right at the very heart of it all. 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:15.179 And John is so keen to demonstrate the importance of love that he challenges us to see how our love is towards other Christians, to other believers. 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:30.599 And in fact, it's very challenging because from the word of God, it is very clear that if we ever hate another believer, then that is pointing to the fact that we don't really love God. 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:34.900 So it's the sort of writing that brings you up short. 00:03:35.799 --> 00:03:43.060 Because John is saying here, if you do not love other believers, then something really is wrong. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:53.180 And that doesn't mean, of course, that we will find that every Christian means exactly the same thing to us. 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:59.819 And we know that there will be many Christians who will have different views and different opinions and different ways. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:05.120 And we have to and we often agree to disagree. 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:07.599 And that's quite that's all right. 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:12.480 It doesn't say that we have to agree with everybody, but we have to love them. 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:17.100 Even if we don't agree with them, we're still to love them. 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:18.620 That is a base command. 00:04:19.320 --> 00:04:26.040 And it comes with that challenge that if we don't love them, that it is evidence of something wrong within us. 00:04:26.580 --> 00:04:33.520 Because John says, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, that's what he says in chapter four, he's a liar. 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:41.240 For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:47.980 And so now John addresses his readers and he terms them little children. 00:04:48.340 --> 00:04:49.579 It's a term of endearment. 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:56.180 And little children is very apt because that's exactly what we are. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:05.540 Because the moment that we're born again through the regenerated work of God, that's when we become little children. 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:07.699 Spiritual infants. 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:19.360 And even when we develop and mature and move to the strong meat and such like, we still remain as little children. 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:22.039 It's not a sign of immaturity. 00:05:23.159 --> 00:05:27.800 In fact, it is a sign of maturity, child likeness. 00:05:28.779 --> 00:05:36.980 Some people might think that when you mature as a Christian, then a strong independence streak will run through you. 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:38.759 Nothing could be further from the truth. 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:45.420 The Christian will always operate just like little children do. 00:05:45.640 --> 00:05:48.060 Children are dependent on their parents. 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:50.100 Children cling to their parents. 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:52.960 And that's exactly what the Christian does as well. 00:05:53.340 --> 00:06:03.280 The Christian is somebody who is constantly clinging to Jesus, constantly depending upon the Lord Jesus. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:12.959 So as a Christian develops and the Christian grows, there will be this growing child likeness about them. 00:06:13.419 --> 00:06:14.899 It's not a sign of immaturity. 00:06:15.239 --> 00:06:17.559 It is a sign of maturity. 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:27.000 And again, the fact that we are children is a wonderful thing because it means that we've been ushered straight into the family of God. 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:32.139 Because the moment we're born again, the moment we're justified, we're also adopted. 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:36.819 We're taken into the family of God with all the brothers and sisters that we have. 00:06:36.819 --> 00:06:44.639 And it's the most wonderful privilege in the world that we live in because it gives us a great sense of security. 00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:50.040 We live in a very insecure world, a very unstable world. 00:06:50.040 --> 00:07:02.240 And knowing that you belong to God, that God loves you, that God loves you so much, the Father loves you so much that he gave a son to die for you, 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:06.420 not only gives you a sense of security, but a sense of belonging. 00:07:07.900 --> 00:07:10.000 It gives you a sense of identity. 00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:14.520 And people throughout this world are always looking for a sense of identity. 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:15.360 Who am I? 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:17.860 What am I about? 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:21.560 People want this sense of identity. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:22.520 They crave it. 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:29.920 And even when you scrape underneath all the superficial veneer, there's this craving for a sense of identity. 00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:32.020 The Christian has that. 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:40.300 And so it gives us an incredible sense of peace, this incredible sense of security all the time. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:45.980 And again, the world pushes people to become a somebody. 00:07:45.980 --> 00:07:48.759 That's part of the ethos of this world. 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:49.860 You've got to be a somebody. 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:52.160 You don't want to go through life as a nobody. 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:53.640 You've got to be a somebody. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:54.860 And there's pressure. 00:07:55.780 --> 00:07:56.660 Not for the Christian. 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:09.480 Because the fact that we are in Christ, that we belong to Christ, that we are his child in this world, removes from us any sense of that pressure. 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:13.040 That the world pushes on us all the time. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:20.300 And so this knowledge also produces a sense of direction, a sense of purpose. 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:23.260 Because we know why we're here in this world. 00:08:23.700 --> 00:08:26.720 We're here above all to glorify God. 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:29.560 And you know, far too often we forget that. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:33.120 And when we forget that, we begin to struggle. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:38.279 Because we look at life through the wrong lens. 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:43.259 And sometimes we have to pull ourself up short. 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:48.320 Because we're looking at life and forgetting, it's actually not about me. 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:50.179 It's about God. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.000 It's about his glory. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:09:03.120 And if we have that fixed in our thinking, if that is what pushes us on and propels us on, as it should, then life takes on a whole new meaning. 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:08.659 And it will remove so much of the struggling that so often we face. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.440 And we also know that God is working everything for our good. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:22.920 And so we see the duty now that John calls for, and he says, little children, abide in him. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:24.840 Abide. 00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:26.240 Continue. 00:09:27.420 --> 00:09:27.940 Remain. 00:09:29.100 --> 00:09:34.800 Now it goes without saying that you can't abide in a particular place until you first come to that place. 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:36.860 That's a given. 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:41.220 And that's how it is with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:45.080 We abide in Christ once we have come to Christ. 00:09:45.180 --> 00:09:47.740 Once we are at peace and at rest in him. 00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:52.960 And so this is what we're commanded to do. 00:09:53.920 --> 00:09:55.160 Christ has loved us. 00:09:55.300 --> 00:09:56.100 We love him. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:57.500 And so we abide in him. 00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:01.519 Now to abide in him means that day by day we live by faith. 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:06.000 We live in dependence and we exercise that faith in him all the time. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:17.600 But as we come to see what John is writing about, there are three real fundamentals which highlight when we go through John's letter will show us what that abiding is. 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:19.860 And the first of these is the truth. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:22.580 That we believe the truth. 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:24.139 That we accept the truth. 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:27.200 That the truth governs our lives. 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:31.200 The truth is foundational to who we are and what we are. 00:10:32.419 --> 00:10:33.539 That's the first one. 00:10:33.539 --> 00:10:36.179 The second is obedience. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:44.659 That once we know what the truth is, the truth is our guide in life, we are then to obey. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.939 We're not to set God's word aside. 00:10:47.579 --> 00:10:49.219 We're not to live in disobedience. 00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:52.159 If we live in disobedience, we're not abiding. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.519 So we have to know the truth. 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:57.120 Believe it. 00:10:57.319 --> 00:10:57.939 Accept it. 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:02.279 Walk in that truth in obedience to the Lord. 00:11:02.959 --> 00:11:10.740 And the third that he emphasizes so much is loving all our other brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:36.500 And John is really saying, when you go through his letter, that if we do these three things, if we walk believing the truth and accepting the truth that it's key to our life, that if we live in obedience to that truth that's set before us, and if we live in love to our Lord and to one another, it is inevitable that we will be abiding in Christ. 00:11:36.500 --> 00:11:43.600 However, we know that sometimes we aren't abiding in the way that we should. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:51.279 And I think probably the greatest example that we can make of it, or to illustrate it, is when you think of a couple. 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:52.519 Here's a husband and wife. 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:56.580 They're married and they live in this house together. 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.180 They're abiding together under the one roof. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:07.300 And they live in a life of sharing, a life of togetherness, a life of closeness, of fellowship and intimacy. 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:08.540 That's how it is. 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:13.719 But then along the way, maybe they begin to drift. 00:12:14.740 --> 00:12:16.579 They still live under the one roof. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.240 They still share certain things. 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:21.899 But the fellowship isn't there. 00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:24.399 The closeness isn't there. 00:12:25.059 --> 00:12:26.500 The intimacy is gone. 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:35.120 They're still, as it were, abiding under the one roof, still sharing certain things. 00:12:35.439 --> 00:12:37.259 But it's not the way it was. 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.519 And that's sometimes how it is with a Christian. 00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:45.879 And we can still be Christians in Christ. 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.100 But we find that we've wandered. 00:12:49.939 --> 00:12:52.419 And maybe we're not praying the way we used to. 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:54.480 Maybe our devotions have gone cold. 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.559 We're not reading the word the way that we used to. 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:03.379 We're not meditating upon the truth the way that we used to. 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:08.779 We're not giving obedience to the word in the way that we should. 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:12.519 We know what the word says, but we're just doing our own thing. 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.840 And we're sin. 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:19.000 We're not troubled too much. 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:21.039 There's the odd time we say, oh, no, no, no. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:22.059 Got to get right. 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.039 But we're not serious about it. 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:30.339 So we can be Christians and yet we're living far off. 00:13:31.599 --> 00:13:33.599 We're not, the warmth has gone. 00:13:33.719 --> 00:13:34.919 The intimacy has gone. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:36.139 The fellowship has gone. 00:13:36.259 --> 00:13:37.439 The closeness has gone. 00:13:38.459 --> 00:13:39.899 And that's what John is saying. 00:13:40.299 --> 00:13:41.719 You've got to face up to this. 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:47.879 And it's important that we, if we find that we're drifting, that we deal with it. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:49.840 Because you'll notice what John says. 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.519 And now, little children, abide in him. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.259 Now, not later on. 00:13:56.700 --> 00:13:59.620 It's not something that you say, oh, I am drifting. 00:13:59.920 --> 00:14:01.279 I'm going to have to sort this. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:02.379 No, no, it's right now. 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:08.100 If that's what's happened, now you make sure that you are abiding in him. 00:14:08.100 --> 00:14:11.120 That's absolute key to it all. 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:15.540 And then we see the motive John gives us. 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:25.740 Abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:35.120 The coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the major themes that runs right throughout the whole New Testament from Matthew through to Revelation. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:49.639 I read somewhere that somebody who had counted found that the second coming of Jesus, the return of Jesus, is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament. 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:52.860 That's an extraordinary amount. 00:14:52.860 --> 00:15:01.080 And it shows us how important this truth is, how important it should be to our thinking. 00:15:02.680 --> 00:15:09.700 And so John is saying it is imperative that you live abiding in Christ because Christ is coming again. 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:11.840 And we know that he's coming suddenly. 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:14.360 Not with no warning. 00:15:15.420 --> 00:15:19.879 In such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man will come. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:21.280 That's what Jesus says. 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:24.940 Not when you're expecting, but when you're not expecting. 00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:31.340 And so it's imperative that we are abiding in Christ because the opposite is true. 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:44.100 If we're living away from him, if the closeness has gone, as we were describing of how it could be, the reading has gone, the prayer isn't as it should be. 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:50.820 We're careless, we're not obeying, we're not obeying, we're not obeying, we're not obeying, sin, we're treating it lightly. 00:15:51.820 --> 00:16:02.180 And if Christ comes then, we are going to be red-faced, shamed, confused if he appears at that time. 00:16:02.180 --> 00:16:04.360 And that's what John is warning us about. 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:06.440 You don't want to be found like that. 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:14.500 You don't want to be in that situation, in that condition, to be caught living in a way in which you shouldn't. 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:21.580 And I'm sure if we're honest as Christians, we can look back on our lives and we can say hand on heart, 00:16:21.680 --> 00:16:27.200 I am so thankful that the Lord didn't return at that particular time. 00:16:27.760 --> 00:16:33.980 I'm sure every one of us can say that because we were not living as we ought. 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:41.980 And so that's why there's this urgency from John now, make sure that you're abiding in him. 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.460 And so the Christian, as a Christian walks through this world, Christ is always there. 00:16:48.539 --> 00:16:53.340 Because it doesn't matter what direction, every which way we look, Christ is there. 00:16:53.340 --> 00:17:03.740 We look back and we look back to Calvary as a congregation remembering last Lord's Day the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:07.339 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:11.500 So as we look back, we're looking back to what Jesus did. 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:18.680 When we look in, we see what Jesus is doing through the work of the Holy Spirit by the word, 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:23.339 sanctifying us, conforming us to the image of Christ. 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:25.640 Day by day we're being changed. 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:37.800 When we look around, we see our brothers and sisters also being worked in, conformed, changed to the image of Christ. 00:17:38.300 --> 00:17:47.360 I'm sure often we've said, oh well, see how he's growing, see how she's developing, see how he's maturing, see the way she's growing. 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:49.580 Jesus is at work. 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:51.420 We're seeing it when we look around. 00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:56.519 When we look up, we see Jesus there in glory. 00:17:56.940 --> 00:17:57.580 What's he doing? 00:17:57.860 --> 00:17:59.940 He's interceding for us. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:06.779 When we look ahead, we see Jesus coming again. 00:18:07.900 --> 00:18:08.800 We don't know when. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:16.279 But surely our anticipation should be that of the church in Revelation. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:22.700 Virtually the last breath of Revelation is, even so come Lord Jesus. 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:24.940 You know what? 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:29.319 If you can say that right now, even so come Lord Jesus. 00:18:29.860 --> 00:18:32.120 I guarantee you are abiding in him. 00:18:32.980 --> 00:18:36.740 If you're saying tonight, oh Lord, don't come just now. 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.460 I'm not, I'm not, I am most certainly not ready. 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:46.600 Then I would suggest that we need to get back to abiding in him. 00:18:47.420 --> 00:18:56.120 Because we say, as it says, we don't want to be caught red-faced, embarrassed, ashamed at the return of our Lord. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.759 But that we're there with joy in our heart. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.779 So ready to meet with him. 00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:10.660 Shame and embarrassment belongs ultimately to the unbeliever. 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:11.819 It's going to be their lot. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.619 I think it's one of the most solemn readings in Scripture. 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:20.700 In Daniel, in chapter 12, it tells us there. 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:26.859 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:28.639 This is of the resurrection. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:31.520 Some to everlasting life. 00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:36.500 And some to shame and everlasting contempt. 00:19:37.840 --> 00:19:41.620 That's one description of what hell is going to be. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.820 Shame and everlasting contempt. 00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:47.759 It's an awful thought. 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:50.960 We know what shame is like. 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:51.960 It's an awful thing. 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:59.759 Well, to think that forever, it's going to be a foreverness of shame and contempt. 00:20:00.840 --> 00:20:04.860 But for the Christian, there is salvation. 00:20:05.500 --> 00:20:12.460 But we don't want, when the return of Jesus, to be not abiding as we should in him. 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:18.539 So that we will hear these beautiful words enter into the joy of the Lord. 00:20:19.180 --> 00:20:22.000 Into his fellowship and into his glory. 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:27.259 And into the happiness of the eternal reward. 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:28.420 Let us pray. 00:20:28.420 --> 00:20:32.620 O Lord, we give thanks for your word. 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:34.820 For the challenge of your word. 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.560 For the way that so often we are brought up short. 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:42.400 It brings us to examine ourselves where we are. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.680 How we stand in relation to you. 00:20:45.740 --> 00:20:49.700 Forgive us, Lord, for how often we are not where we ought to be. 00:20:49.700 --> 00:20:57.160 And we give thanks, Lord, that if we know that we're not where we ought to be. 00:20:57.580 --> 00:21:01.319 That there is the opportunity for us to get right with you. 00:21:02.080 --> 00:21:07.319 We give thanks for the desire that is in your people to get right with you. 00:21:08.100 --> 00:21:13.400 And so we pray that there will be a constant desire within our hearts. 00:21:13.840 --> 00:21:16.900 To live in this way of abiding with you. 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:20.940 So that we will live in your truth, rejoicing in it. 00:21:21.540 --> 00:21:24.400 That we will live in obedience to that truth. 00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:28.920 And that we might live with hearts full of love for one another. 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:31.400 Lord, bless us, we pray. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.019 And take us all to our home safely. 00:21:34.740 --> 00:21:37.200 Grant us your grace, we pray for Calamurdo. 00:21:37.320 --> 00:21:40.040 And ask for your healing hand to be upon him. 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:42.740 Restoring him to full health and strength. 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:48.599 We're aware at this time there's so many colds and flus going about. 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:50.240 And so we pray for protection. 00:21:50.900 --> 00:21:52.759 We pray for your strength and grace. 00:21:53.420 --> 00:21:56.539 Watch over us and take away from us our every sin. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:58.480 In Jesus' name we ask it. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.000 Amen. 00:21:59.000 --> 00:21:59.099 Amen. 00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:02.380 We're going to conclude in...