the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you,
which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light
is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
Whoever loves his brother and abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
But whoever hates his brother and is in the darkness and walks in the darkness,
but does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know
him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word
of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Let's pray.
Lord, we are thankful this morning for your word, for the reading only is enough to convince us
that you are glorious and that we need Jesus and that he is glorious. Lord, we pray also that you
might tune our hearts and minds to your word, to the words that you speak to us. We pray this in
Jesus' name. Amen. You might not know the names MacArthur Wheeler or Clifton Earl Johnson,
and even if you had never heard those names before, you definitely don't know about their
meteoric rise to fame or infamy. They're famous for being really, really stupid.
See, in 1995, Wheeler and Johnson robbed two Pittsburgh area banks, but they didn't have
a clever plan or really good disguises. They thought they did, or really fast getaway car
or anything like that. They are just really, really stupid. And that's what the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette said about them. That's what the evening news said about them, because you see,
they thought they could get away with it all, not because they had a good plan, not because they
had good disguises or fast getaway car or even really big guns or anything like that.
You see, Johnson convinced Wheeler that if he squirted lemon juice on his face, that he would be unseen to
any CCTV camera, that no one would be able to see him, and they would get away with it, and they'd be
rich forevermore. Mind you, they only stole $5,000, but they even tested this plan out. They squirted
lemon juice on their faces, and then they took a Polaroid of each other. Now, police think that they
pointed the Polaroid camera at the wrong place, or they had bad film. But they were supremely confident
that they would get away with it. And armed with supreme confidence and nothing else, they were
subsequently caught within hours. Well, one was caught within hours, the other in a couple days. But they were
extremely confident. In fact, when Wheeler was caught, he kept mumbling, but I wore the juice, but I wore the
juice. Now, psychologists famously use this example to show how you can be so stupid that you don't know
that you're stupid, right? And we chuckle and laugh about this, but the reality is that we're not unlike
Wheeler and Johnson, that we are supremely confident in ourselves or something else, and we
don't realize we have no reason to be confident that we are so stupid that we don't realize we're
stupid. See, confidence is a tricky thing. We all, even in our modern day, think that we should have it.
In this scenario, the bank robbers were confident. They were blinded. We are blinded. Our confidence is
often misplaced in things that it shouldn't be placed in. And we're wrong. We're not unlike them
at all. As humans, we fail to see ourselves rightly. I'm not talking about the emotional,
intelligence, social aspect of it, but something far greater, something cosmic.
That left to our own devices, we squirt lemon juice on our faces and think ourselves invisible,
if not invincible.
John is not a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
but he's writing to a group of people that have the same problem.
The same problem as some of us here in this room, all of us here in this room.
He's addressing a people that are tempted to be supremely confident, whether it's in themselves,
in others, in their works, their actions, or the things they've done or things they haven't done.
But that's not where our confidence should be at all. The message of the gospel confronts that
each time we hear it. And John is writing to Christians, to them and to us, to warn them
that our confidence is off. That our call to love one another is based out of this fellowship with God.
And that should be our confidence, that fellowship with God.
And he does it two ways. One is really harsh. One is a warning.
And one is a little bit more gentle, a reminder of who they are.
So it's a warning and a reminder. Let's first look at that warning.
It might not seem like the words he's using are that harsh.
I mean, he starts out beloved. But in fact, he's repeating something that he's already said.
He kind of softens it a little bit up front in this warning.
But this theme that we see here in these first verses is not something that's new to us.
If you remember, when we looked at 1 Sean before, he, like any good pastor, repeats things over and over again.
And this is one of those. He's warning us that the way to follow Jesus is to walk in his commands.
And this time, he's very direct. He's not very broad. He's very specific.
And that command is to love one another. That seems simple enough, right?
But then why do we have this huge body of work in the New Testament repeating this idea over and over?
We saw it in Matthew when we confessed earlier.
Even the Puritans thought it was so important that they put it in the catechism.
Love one another.
Look back with me at verse 7.
Beloved, I'm writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
John's really concerned about showing them that this is nothing that's newfangled.
It's not a new idea. In fact, you've had it a long, long time.
He's pointing them back to the ministry of Jesus, saying,
Jesus said these things. This is an old commandment.
And if you knew the gospel either from Jesus or the apostles,
then this is not a new idea to you.
But why is he so concerned about that?
He's concerned because much like in our modern day,
we have people that come around and say,
this is the way to follow Christ.
Some new idea.
And he's saying, no, that's not it at all.
In fact, this is something that you were taught from the beginning.
You heard this from Jesus' lips.
You heard it from the apostles' lips.
I've told you this very thing.
Love one another.
Why is that so important?
Because he wants to confirm to them that this is an old thing.
This is nothing new.
We looked at this passage a couple weeks ago in Mark 12.
Jesus is challenged.
His opponents try to trick him, trap him.
And they ask him,
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law?
And he says something like this.
The most important is,
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God.
The Lord is one.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
And the second is this.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said to him,
You're right, teacher.
This is not anything new.
They heard this before.
This is really old.
But if you listen closely to Jesus' answer,
we heard this other places.
We read it earlier in Scripture.
We hear it in the Shema,
which is Deuteronomy 6.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.
Love the Lord your God and love others.
We heard it in Leviticus,
where there's this lengthy expansion
of what it looks like to love other people.
It's not just an idea that's made up.
It has teeth to it.
Love one another.
It's something old,
something very, very old,
that goes past when Jesus walked this earth.
But at the same time,
it's something that is new.
So why does John say it's new here?
Something that's repeated in the Gospels.
In John 13, Jesus says this,
A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you are to also love one another.
By this, all people will know
that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
The newness that Jesus is speaking of
is the fact that they're indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
It's kind of a new spin on an old command,
that they are empowered and enabled
to actually love one another.
And they're to do so in the way that Jesus has done it,
sacrificially.
They're to love one another.
And that has an evangelistic quality to it,
that when people see that,
that's attractive.
You will know that you're a disciple of Christ
by how you love one another.
This idea that we see in 1 John,
there's a couple ideas that keep coming back up.
One is love for one another.
The other is light and darkness.
And Jesus kind of,
or John overlays those two ideas here.
He starts in verse eight at comparing those.
At the same time,
it's a new commandment that I'm writing to you,
which is true in him and in you,
because the darkness is passing away
and the true light is already shining.
John has a couple themes,
light and darkness and love for one another.
And here he mashes them up.
It's like when we talked about at Easter,
there's a sense in which Jesus has defeated death,
finally and fully, in some capacity.
But it's like that snake that's still around.
I think that's an example.
We talked about this in Sunday school earlier,
but the fangs have been removed of poison,
but death is still here.
The light has invaded the darkness,
but not finally and fully
in the sense that there'll be no more tears
and no more sadness as we walk this earth.
In the midst of that,
we are called to love one another.
That's how light is shining in the darkness.
Christians are called to love each other.
We are called to love one another.
And that light is shining in the darkness of this world.
But how do we know he's talking about love?
Because we haven't seen it yet.
Look at verses nine and 11 with me.
Whoever says he's in the light
and hates his brother is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light.
And in him there is no cause for stumbling.
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness
and walks in the darkness
and does not know where he's going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
He makes the connection here that walking in the light,
which is fellowship with God,
has a quality about it.
And it's loving one another.
And then he repeats the same idea
by doing it in the converse.
He says,
if you say that you live like this,
but then hate your brother,
then you're actually not in the light at all.
Light is fellowship with God.
Darkness is not fellowship with God.
Loving one another is a quality of light.
So you can't be in the light and hate your brother.
Those are mutually exclusive.
John's addressing this
because light and darkness
is really big and really important.
And he's really pointed right here
because he's really concerned about fellowship with God.
He's concerned because there are people
that are swirling around
that are maybe influencing the church
that are saying,
it doesn't matter how you live.
It doesn't matter if you love one another.
You can still be a Christian and do this.
And John is saying,
no, no, no.
This is really important
because if you follow after Christ,
you will love one another.
You must love other Christians.
Jesus mentioned this already.
The disciples are gonna be known
for their love for one another.
And that was true in Jesus
because he sacrificially loved his disciples.
And that's true in you, John says,
in Christians now,
because as they have fellowship with God,
as they're united with him,
we will reflect that.
They will reflect that.
Oftentimes, I think we think of darkness
and we think,
ah, that's not like dark.
But John clarifies it here.
It's not just my inability to see a little bit.
It's complete and utter darkness.
You're stumbling around.
You're tripping over things.
I've moved around a lot in this country
and around the world.
And I'm sure most of you are like me right now
where if I go out at night,
there's always lights.
There might not be a street light,
but I can see on some level.
But there are places in this world,
third world countries,
or even the Colorado back country,
where you can go
and you can wave your hand
in front of your face
and you can't see it at all.
And that is really stinking scary.
Especially if you go to a tunnel.
There are some old mines here in Colorado
and you can go down in those mines
and if you cut out the light,
I did this with my kids
and I was a little freaked out.
And they were definitely really freaked out.
That they went in the darkness
and you can't tell
which way you came from.
Because if you move slightly,
your point of reference
is completely thrown off.
The only thing that you can even feel
is the rush of wind
that comes down the mine shaft
that you just went in.
That's the kind of darkness
that John is talking about.
That when you are in sin,
you are completely blinded.
It's not that you have
some frame of reference.
We're more familiar
with this idea from Paul
of death and life
when we talk about sin
and fellowship with God.
And that's all well and good,
but darkness, true darkness,
is often something
that we have familiarity with.
True darkness is stumbling,
walking around,
tripping and falling.
That's what John is talking about.
He's talking about
being blinded by sin
and not knowing
what is good,
what is right,
what is beautiful,
what is true.
Or even that you need a Savior.
You're blinded by sin.
That is darkness.
When we come on these texts,
I think it's often easy
for us to draw parallels
at Giant Mountain
or whatever,
or whatever church we go to.
And as Christians,
that's a good thing.
Right?
John's writing to people
that are Christians,
writing to people
that struggle with sin.
We struggle with sin.
We're Christians,
so that's natural.
We should do that.
And that's why we're drawn
to texts like this.
But we have to imbibe,
we have to soak in
what he is saying to us.
That if we walk in darkness,
we don't have a frame of reference.
We're stumbling around.
We need Christ.
John said this very directly before.
He said in the Gospels,
and he said it now,
that whoever claims
that he's in the light,
but hates his brother,
walks in darkness.
That person is lost.
If we say that we're Christians
and we don't have love
for one another,
especially in this room,
that we are in darkness.
We are lost.
We are blinded.
So what do we do then?
We have to search our own hearts
and ask,
do I truly love my brother?
Do I truly love my sister?
Practically, though,
what does that look like?
That means being concerned
with people that don't look like you,
not just tolerating them,
not just holding them a distance
and plugging my nose
because I think that they're stinky,
but actually being sacrificial towards them
in both time
and caring for them.
And caring for them,
caring about their soul
because we're not walking
in this Christian life alone.
And sometimes we get distracted by that.
Sometimes we get confused by that.
It doesn't matter whether we're age seven or 70.
I should be concerned about a seven-year-old,
a 70-year-old,
or even a 38-year-old.
We should all be concerned for each other
even if we don't look the same,
we don't work in the same spot,
we don't live in the same neighborhood
because we're concerned about each other's souls.
John's telling us that.
Now we've looked on this warning.
John is really forward,
very direct about this.
And he can do that
because of what's been done.
Oftentimes we talk about
what's been done for you as a Christian
and then what you're supposed to do.
And it normally follows that pattern.
But we've seen that John
doesn't like patterns at all
unless it's his own.
He circles around ideas over and over again.
But here he says,
love one another
because of who you are.
He reminds them who they are
or whose they are.
Look with me at verses 12 and following.
I'm writing to you little children.
I'm writing to you fathers.
I'm writing to you young men.
I write to you children.
I write to you fathers.
I write to you young men.
He's repeating this over and over.
John can speak with such emphasis.
He calls them,
first,
because your sins are forgiven.
That's the axis
on which all of this spins.
He can say,
love one another
because of what's been done for you.
But just remember
who you are in Christ.
Remember that your sins are forgiven.
That your ethics
or what you do
flows out of who you are.
Your identity.
Because your sins are forgiven.
It's not like this.
Oftentimes we think of this.
I have done this for you
so you will do this for me.
No.
Love one another
because you've been changed
because your sin is forgiven.
Your sin is not counted
against you at all.
That's who you are now.
But when we think it's
this for that,
we get it backwards.
John's calling them to action
based on who they are
as Christians
and he reminds them.
He's pointing them back
by using this phrase,
I write to you,
I wrote to you,
I write to you.
He's reminding them
this is not something that's old
but it's new and old
because it deals with
the new and old problem
of our own hearts
that we think that we can
walk in the light
but have no love for a brother.
Their living
is born out of their identity
as Christians.
As knowing that your sin
is no longer counted against you,
that should motivate us
and prompt us
to love one another.
Because we've been shown compassion,
then we are compassionate.
Their identity
is fundamentally important.
I've made my return
to the soccer field
after a very long time away
and I thought
that my
U5
pride
soccer
panda bears
would be really excited
that they have so many
that's a coach
of such great experience
and played all over the world
and such a high level
but they don't care.
It's been really fun
but I was confronted
a couple weeks ago
with a challenge
I've never faced before
and it was this.
I had a player
on my team
whose name was Emily
and
she refused
to let me
call her
by her name.
On the field.
And in fact,
she wanted to be called
Bowser.
And she got
incessantly
angry with me
and furious
stomping
because I didn't
call her Bowser.
Now,
does she share
the same qualities
as Bowser?
Does she have
spiky shell?
Does she look like
a dinosaur?
Does she,
I think he spits fireballs,
I'm not really
a video game guy
but spit fireballs
or smash Mario
or anything like that?
No,
absolutely not.
And so she got
so angry at me
that I refused
to call her
Bowser on the field.
But she was reminded
by her dad
that no,
you're not Bowser
or later
Princess Peach.
But you're in fact
Emily.
Your identity
is
Emily.
Emily,
a little girl
on the U5
Pride Soccer
Panda Bears
soccer team.
her dad
reminded her
of her identity
as Emily,
not as Bowser.
We are reminded
in the same way
by the words of John.
He can call us
to love
because he reminds us
of our identity
as Christians.
It wouldn't make sense
for him to call us
to love one another
and warn us
and shout at us
love one another
unless he reminded us
out of the well
which we draw
as Christians.
He reminds us
by first
starting with
the good news
that our sins
are forgiven.
That's the axis
on all
that all of this
turns.
And then he says
fathers
you know him
from the beginning.
Again,
it's not a new idea.
It's an old thing.
Young men
you have overcome
the evil one.
There is triumph
over sin now
because of what
Christ has done.
You know the Father.
You know the Son.
Think of that.
Think of the intimacy
that that
is communicating.
You know the Father.
You are strong.
You are strong
not because
you have muscles
and you work out.
No, you're strong
because the Word of God
abides in you.
Because of your faith
in Christ
that's what makes you strong.
That's what
allows you to overcome
the evil one.
That's what he's communicating
in this second part.
John's reminding us
he's reminding them
of who they truly are.
And he uses
a couple different terms
to highlight
different stages of life.
Young men,
fathers,
children.
But all of these
apply to us
as Christians.
All of these
are good reminders
of who we are.
But why are
their sins forgiven?
Not because
they love.
I think that's
the danger
in this text
is coming to this
and saying
our sins are
forgiven
because we love
one another.
That confuses it.
What does he say
in verse 12?
He says this,
little children
because your sins
are forgiven
for his name's sake.
Not because you love.
Not because of
how great you are.
Not because of
how great of a
soccer coach you are.
No.
Your sins are forgiven
because Christ
is who he says he is.
For him alone.
For his mere
good pleasure.
And in order
to love one another
that has to be settled.
And if we're truly
to love
we must experience
that love
and know it
to our core.
Woven throughout this
is this reminder
and repeated again
and again
that this is something
they've known
from the beginning.
That's a good
reminder to us
that when we're
assaulted
with new ideas
with new challenges
and that will happen
that we apply
the same old faith
the same old past
to new challenges
to those new ideas
to those new situations
that our lives
might not look like
the people
that John wrote to
but they do
at their core
because we have
that same faith
and we're assaulted
with some of the
same challenges.
and as we apply
that faith
we must be reminded
old is not bad
especially when it comes
to this life changing
message.
We know the Father
we've known him
from the beginning
of our Christian walk.
He's talking about
Jesus often
in this phrase
when he says
you've known him
from the beginning.
He's pointing back
to Jesus
but he's also
pointing to the Father
because they're
three in one.
we've known this
from the beginning
of our Christian lives
and our strength
flows from that.
All of this is written
John writes all these people
to reassure them
of the faith
they have
to reassure them
as they face
these different challenges
these new ideas
that it doesn't matter
how you live
they're returned
to the old
old story
to the old faith
to the Christian message
and that they're
to have confidence
because of their
fellowship with God
as they love
one another.
John's reminding them
of who they are
and we're reminded
of who we are.
So when the voices
in this world
try to tell us
that we're silly
for thinking
that this is true
remember
that is not
a new challenge
that's something
that they faced
as well.
We'll face
new challenges
but we must
return again
to this old
old story
that Christ
has died
and has risen
and our sins
are forgiven
and that
is how we love
one another.
Out of that
is how we love
one another
because we can't
do it without that
and that should
grant us
confidence
in this life.
That should
grant us
an accurately
placed confidence
not misplaced
in ourselves
not misplaced
in anything else
but in this
old story.
So when the
tempter
accuses us
and says to us
surely can't
be serious
surely you can't
think that you're
a Christian
because you failed
to love one another.
Our desire
to love one another
is born out
of that faith.
We must have
confidence
in who we are
and that's what
John is reminding
of us
this day.
we love
one another
because we have
fellowship with
God through
Jesus.
We love
one another
we're warned
that we must
love one another
but we're
reminded
our loving
one another
does not
make us
lovely
that we are
made lovely
based on what
Christ has
done.
May we be
reminded of that
this morning.
Let's pray.
Lord we thank
you this day
for the
life changing
message of
the gospel
the fact that
you change
sinners
into things
that are
lovely
not because
of what
they have
done
not because
of who
they are
we pray
that you
might remind
us of that
and we
would have
confidence
with the
saints of
old
that we
don't face
new
challenges
that you
have not
faced
yourself
but father
that we
have the
same
old
faith
and we
pray that
you might
show us
more and
more how
to love
one another
out of that
old faith
in Jesus name
amen