Walking In Love

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:08.349 Let's turn to second John. Now, second John, I'm preaching particularly on 2 00:00:08.429 --> 00:00:17.469 verses four through six, but since it's a short letter, I'll read. 3 00:00:18.190 --> 00:00:25.019 I'll read a little more than that. I'll read the whole letter. And 4 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:28.660 so short it's easy to pass by it, especially if you have one of 5 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:33.539 those bibles with Itty bitty print. It's right before revelation, the last book 6 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:50.600 of the Bible. Second John. All right, let's hear God's word this 7 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:56.719 morning, the elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love 8 00:00:56.840 --> 00:01:00.359 in truth, not only I, but also all who know the truth, 9 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.549 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever, 10 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:08.750 grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God, the Father, 11 00:01:10.189 --> 00:01:15.390 and from Jesus Christ, the Father's son, in truth and love. I 12 00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:19.739 rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as 13 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:23.819 we were commanded by the father. And now I ask you, Dear Lady, 14 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:26.579 not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one 15 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:32.299 we have had from the beginning, that we love one another, and this 16 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:37.730 is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, 17 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:41.609 just as you have heard from the beginning. So that you should walk 18 00:01:41.650 --> 00:01:45.650 in it, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who 19 00:01:45.650 --> 00:01:49.799 do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one 20 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.599 is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourself so that you may not lose 21 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:59.120 what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who 22 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.950 goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have 23 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:07.629 God. Whoever abides in his teaching or in the teaching, has both the 24 00:02:07.790 --> 00:02:12.030 father and the son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this 25 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:15.659 teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 26 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:22.020 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much 27 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:24.740 to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, 28 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:28.740 I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that 29 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:32.129 our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you. 30 00:02:34.810 --> 00:02:51.800 Amen. Well, through his Apostle, the apostle, Apostle John and Jesus 31 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.560 is calling us to a certain kind of life, to live in a certain 32 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.789 way. He calls us to live a life of truth and of love. 33 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:07.830 He first introduces John, first introduces these themes of truth and love and the 34 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:10.830 first three verses, which we looked at last time, and now he calls 35 00:03:10.870 --> 00:03:15.460 us to walk in them. And I want to look at these three verses, 36 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:19.900 versus four, five and six, in turn and consider with you what 37 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:24.020 it is Jesus is saying to us today, what it is that he wants 38 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:30.969 us to walk in and why, that we might follow him and that we 39 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:34.729 might trust him in these ways. So let's consider them first first. For 40 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.090 here, in first four, John Calls us to walk in the truth, 41 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:46.080 and he does so by way of a praise and encouragement. He says to 42 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.400 the church, I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the 43 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:55.550 truth. The PAT the passage starts with a Happy Apostle. The Apostle is 44 00:03:55.830 --> 00:04:00.430 rejoicing, even rejoicing greatly, because of what he has found in these Christian 45 00:04:00.509 --> 00:04:08.629 churches. He has found them walking in the truth. And you know what 46 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:13.020 it means to walk in the truth in a general sense, right? It 47 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:17.220 means to walk in reality. If we walk in the truth, it means 48 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.860 that we walk according to the way things truly are. We make choices, 49 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:28.449 decisions based on what is really true about our situation. About our world. 50 00:04:29.449 --> 00:04:33.769 Take a just imagine a an example. Imagine you go to a an estate 51 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:36.410 sale. You see it in the newspaper or something like that, and you 52 00:04:36.490 --> 00:04:44.519 go there and the person is agreed to sell everything for Tenzeros. Right, 53 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.240 you have to buy it all or or buy nothing, but that's the price. 54 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:53.709 And you get there and it's all junk, right, papers everywhere, 55 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:59.910 piles of garbage, clothes that are worn out and dirty, nothing really worth 56 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:03.990 worth paying tenzero for it. But then you see in the corner the scroll 57 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:08.220 of a violin. You pull out the violin, you look inside and it 58 00:05:08.339 --> 00:05:16.100 says Strativarius and you think to yourself, is it truly a Strad right? 59 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:19.699 Is it truly? Is it? Because if it is, by the whole 60 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:27.209 lot, you'll you'll gain a hundred times what you paid. But if it's 61 00:05:27.290 --> 00:05:30.970 not true, then you just bought a big headache for the next few months 62 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.879 for Tenzeros. Right it. What do you do? Right, it's a 63 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:41.879 choice that you make and you want to know what's true about this instrument. 64 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.759 It's like that in every area of our life. We a lot of times 65 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:53.350 we don't think about it. This is just how we live. We live, 66 00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:56.790 we walk, and we walk in the truth. We walk in the 67 00:05:56.910 --> 00:06:00.709 truth that it's typically colder in the winter than it is in the summer, 68 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:04.339 of it the sun rises in the east, that this key opens this door 69 00:06:04.579 --> 00:06:09.100 and that key opens that door, and these are things that we don't even 70 00:06:09.100 --> 00:06:12.300 think about. We Act constantly, act, act, act, act, 71 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:16.060 act, believe, Leiave, do and relate and all kinds of things based 72 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:23.370 on things that we know are true, things that we intuitively even know are 73 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:28.370 true, and we just go, we just walk, and those who do 74 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:32.680 so often find a lot of success. They are walking with the grain of 75 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:40.040 reality, and those that don't often find constant frustration. And we've all been 76 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.600 there. We've all thought something was a good deal that turned out not to 77 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.509 be a good deal, thought someone was a good friend that turned out not 78 00:06:47.790 --> 00:06:54.149 to be a good friend. Thought one job or one situation and on and 79 00:06:54.230 --> 00:06:56.910 on and on. Was One thing and it turns out to be another. 80 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:00.860 And that typically doesn't sometimes there are nice surprises, right, it can work 81 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:03.420 in a positive way. We can find out that, well, I had 82 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:08.779 no idea this was so good, but still there's a sense of why didn't 83 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:15.420 I know this before? It to walk in the truth is good, but 84 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:17.889 we'd be be patting ourselves on the back a little too much if we only 85 00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:23.930 regretted our accidental mistakes of not knowing, of not walking in the truth, 86 00:07:25.050 --> 00:07:28.529 because there's plenty of ways that we don't walk in the truth that are just 87 00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:32.560 totally on purpose. Now you might say that's crazy and I would say you're 88 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:38.480 right, but that's what we do, isn't it? You remember how this 89 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.360 all began? The classic example, the beginning of all this is in the 90 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:47.149 garden of Eden and Satan tempted US and he says to Eve, did God 91 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:54.709 really say? Right, he was encouraging her to act based on a questioning 92 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:59.339 of the truth. What is really true? It's a core question, of 93 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:03.740 fundamental question, and to people who are interested in staying away from God, 94 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:16.009 walking in the truth becomes pretty elusive, difficult, because God isn't a distortion 95 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:22.209 and trickery. God is truth himself. And when we walk away from the 96 00:08:22.329 --> 00:08:26.089 truth of God, when we walk away from the truth of his word, 97 00:08:26.170 --> 00:08:28.439 and we do this for all kinds of reasons, some of which we confessed 98 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.000 this morning in our praying, when we walk away from God and his truth, 99 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:41.549 things get kind of crazy, and that includes both parts of God's revelation. 100 00:08:41.669 --> 00:08:46.549 I should mention his law and his Gospel. When it comes to God's 101 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:48.269 law, when we walk away from God and his truth and we think, 102 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:52.470 well, I don't need to obey it, it's not really that important, 103 00:08:52.509 --> 00:09:00.019 or we think I can't obey it, I'm perfectly capable. In either of 104 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:03.620 these ways, we end up fooling ourselves. We tend to ignore it, 105 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:07.860 the law, that is, we tend to downplay at God says this and 106 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:13.090 this and this is true, and we say well, maybe mostly I'm going 107 00:09:13.169 --> 00:09:16.009 to do this thing or not at all. Or we make it easier. 108 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:22.490 We God's law has standard is way up here and we say that's too hard, 109 00:09:22.610 --> 00:09:24.759 so I'm going to bring it down here so that I can do it. 110 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:31.360 These are ways in which we distort the truth of God's law and which 111 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.320 we distort our sense and our ability to keep that and the same is true 112 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.909 when it comes to the Gospel, when it comes to the truth of God's 113 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:45.429 News, the good news of God's revelation in Christ, that Jesus has come 114 00:09:45.509 --> 00:09:50.269 into the world to save sinners, we say yes, for them, for 115 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:52.980 the people that need it, of course, not for me, or we 116 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:58.179 say he's done that and I'll take it when it's time or when it's ready 117 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:01.899 or when I'm ready, or it's a good salvation but not a great salvation, 118 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:07.330 or all kinds of things that we do. We take the Gospel and 119 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:09.330 we ignore it, we don't believe it, we think we can find our 120 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:15.210 own paths and our own ways. We say that's not really as believable as 121 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:18.649 I want it to be. Jesus might be fine for someone else, but 122 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:24.440 not is necessary for me. He's not necessary for me. My sins aren't 123 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:30.159 that great. I'm not having that heart of a time. Well, to 124 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.879 do to think things like that about the Gospel, about the promises of God, 125 00:10:35.669 --> 00:10:41.909 is to not walk in the truth. To reject Jesus as the incarnate 126 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:45.509 summon of God who came in the flesh to atone for our sins, is 127 00:10:46.269 --> 00:10:52.539 to not walk in the truth. So you can see, then, why 128 00:10:52.539 --> 00:11:00.019 John is so happy, why he's rejoicing greatly. He's rejoicing greatly because here 129 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:03.529 are people who did not walk in the truth. They walked in a distorted, 130 00:11:03.889 --> 00:11:13.529 strange reality, but now they walk in the truth. They walked according 131 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:18.759 to God's mercy, they walked according to His grace and his peace. They 132 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.639 had come to know the truth, both in God's Law and his Gospel, 133 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:28.320 and they lived in light of it. They'd come to walk in it. 134 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:37.830 This is certainly worth cause for rejoicing. Imagine you had a friend, for 135 00:11:37.950 --> 00:11:43.830 example, who had lost his or her mind, a sad situation where they 136 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:50.419 did not live in light of of how things really are. It's a difficult 137 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:54.179 situation, it's a frustrating situation. You heard for them, perhaps you yourself 138 00:11:54.299 --> 00:12:01.100 of experienced moments like that where you knew you were not thinking rightly about your 139 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:05.409 world and just even the most basic sense, to be freed from that, 140 00:12:07.450 --> 00:12:13.490 to come out of that, to know things as they really are, it's 141 00:12:13.529 --> 00:12:18.399 worth it's worth a lot of rejoicing, isn't it? It's worth a lot 142 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:22.519 of praise, and that's what John has experienced and seen in these people. 143 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:30.070 They are now walking in the truth, having seen that, now we come 144 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:33.750 to verse five. He talks to them and he asks, and he makes 145 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:39.149 this request, we might say, to also walk in love. Having seen 146 00:12:39.230 --> 00:12:43.029 them walking the truth, he now also calls them to walk in love. 147 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:50.179 Now this request doesn't mean that this is optional. I should say that John 148 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:54.820 Asks, I ask you, Dear Lady, not as though I were writing 149 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.059 a new commandment, but the one that we had from the beginning, that 150 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:01.769 we will love one another. And when he asks her in this way, 151 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:07.009 this ask is is an expression of his gentleness, it's an expression of his 152 00:13:07.210 --> 00:13:11.570 respect. It's not, it were not to read this, in other words, 153 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:13.240 as though this were or oh, he's just asking so I don't have 154 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.159 to do this. Kids, you know about this, right when when your 155 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.679 parents say, you know, sweetheart, I'd like to ask you to unload 156 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:26.309 the Dishwasher, the proper response is not no, thank you. Right. 157 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:31.909 The proper responses yes, of course, right, the the it is asked 158 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:37.830 as a request in gentleness, not as a request in options, and that's 159 00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:41.500 the spirit in which John Means it here. And we know that because the 160 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:45.179 command to love is all over the scriptures. It is, of course, 161 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:50.220 called a command and he says as much here in verse six. This is 162 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:56.090 love that we walk according to his commandments. And so love is not an 163 00:13:56.129 --> 00:13:58.929 optional thing. And who wants it to be an optional thing? Really? 164 00:13:58.330 --> 00:14:01.769 Who of this here wants to raise our hand and say I'd like love to 165 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:07.330 be optional in my life? Right? No, love is what we all 166 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.559 want. Love is what we strive for. Love is what we want in 167 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:16.440 our lives and our families and our communities. It's the disruption of that love 168 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:24.629 that hurts so bad. And so John Calls them to love one another and 169 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:31.830 he says it's an old command, it's one from the beginning. Might say 170 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:35.230 that John is giving that getting them back to basics, back to essentials, 171 00:14:37.429 --> 00:14:41.340 and by God's grace, the spirit will do that for you today as well. 172 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:50.259 It's easy to get off course. It's really easy to get off course. 173 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:56.610 If you start, if I turn just one small degree this way, 174 00:14:56.250 --> 00:15:00.649 it won't look like I'm walking in that different of a direction for about one 175 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:05.250 step, but then the second step, the third step in pretty soon I'm 176 00:15:05.129 --> 00:15:09.679 way far away from where I started. It's easy to get off course, 177 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:15.480 it's easy to lose our way, and that's why it's so important to always 178 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.279 be returning back to the essentials, to hear a command like love one another 179 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.190 and not go, Oh, yeah, I don't need to hear that, 180 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:26.029 but love one another go I probably need to hear that. That sounds like 181 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:31.590 one of those basic things that I need to be reminded of again. This 182 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:35.269 is why we always return to God's word over and over and over again. 183 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:39.580 We need that correction. This is what of the truths that he gives to 184 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:48.179 us. I once found myself lost somewhere on camel back mountain up in Phoenix, 185 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:50.330 and for those of you who know, this is a little ridiculous sounding 186 00:15:50.330 --> 00:15:54.490 because camelback mountain is right in the center of Phoenix, right, so it's 187 00:15:54.690 --> 00:16:00.210 it felt embarrassing to be lost there. I was heading down a path until, 188 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:03.960 of course I wasn't heading down a path and I couldn't find my way 189 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.480 back, as I kept trying in different ways and I found my stuff self 190 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:15.320 stuck on these boulders and the only way I was able to get out of 191 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:19.269 that mess was eventually, eventually, getting back to basics. I was like, 192 00:16:19.350 --> 00:16:23.070 okay, I know that and I know that and I'll head those directions, 193 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:29.309 and then, slowly and surely, the Lord led me back to where 194 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:33.340 I had come from. God's word does this for us. He calls us 195 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:38.220 back by showing us the essentials. He gets us back by calling US here 196 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:47.490 to love. It seems so simple, right. It's three words. Love 197 00:16:47.730 --> 00:16:52.250 one another. All right, we're done, go home. Right, very 198 00:16:52.450 --> 00:16:56.889 simple, but of course we need reminders, because there's lots of things that 199 00:16:57.049 --> 00:17:03.519 often keep us from loving other people, even silly things like the way they 200 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:10.480 look not going to love, or harder things like the way they treated us 201 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:15.470 one time, or higher loves that we have, like love for comfort or 202 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:21.910 love for ease, or our fear for what people will think if we love 203 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:30.140 them. The list is sad and it goes on and on. But love 204 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:36.420 is what we are called to do and, as John says in verse six, 205 00:17:36.660 --> 00:17:41.460 this love, this is love that we walk according to the command endments. 206 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:47.329 Jesus says in Matthew Twenty two. You shall love the Lord, your 207 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:49.690 God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. 208 00:17:49.890 --> 00:17:53.490 This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it. 209 00:17:53.609 --> 00:17:57.960 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, Love 210 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:07.839 God, love your neighbor depend all the law and the prophets, or consider 211 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:10.960 Paul Romans. Thus three hundred and ten. Love does no wrong to a 212 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:17.069 neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Or again in 213 00:18:17.309 --> 00:18:22.829 First Corinthians thirteen versus four through eight. Love is patient and kind. Love 214 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:29.779 does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude. It does 215 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:34.259 not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It 216 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:41.730 does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all 217 00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:45.569 things, believes all things, hopes all things and doures all things. Love 218 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:48.809 never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away, as four tongues, 219 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:53.609 they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away, but 220 00:18:53.769 --> 00:19:00.839 not love. Love never ends, he says. Why does John Want them 221 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.440 to walk in love? Why does John want it to permeate every action, 222 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.829 every look, every word? Because that's God's command, that's his loving command, 223 00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:18.630 and it's the kind of life that he has brought us into through Christ, 224 00:19:19.109 --> 00:19:26.259 who, after all, first loved US, through Christ who fulfilled his 225 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:32.779 father's will, who obeyed the command of love so that we might be justified 226 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:41.289 for all time, even though we didn't love as we ought. Brothers and 227 00:19:41.369 --> 00:19:49.329 sisters, we have been saved by love in order to love. This is 228 00:19:49.410 --> 00:19:52.880 why, when we abide in God, John says, and first John, 229 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:59.240 we become those who love one another. When we abide in God, through 230 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:02.799 the grace that comes to us, the loving grace that comes to us in 231 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:07.029 Jesus Christ, we become different kinds of people. We walk in a new 232 00:20:07.069 --> 00:20:11.910 way, we walk as those who love one another. In other words, 233 00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:18.349 if you are really abiding in the truth of Jesus Christ, then you will 234 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:22.779 also abide in the love of Jesus Christ. This is God's grace, the 235 00:20:23.099 --> 00:20:27.619 complete package. He doesn't doll out little bits and parts. He when he 236 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:34.890 saves us, he saves US completely in our hearts and our minds. If 237 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:38.569 we are really abiding in the truth, than we will also abide in love. 238 00:20:38.970 --> 00:20:44.049 And if you are really walking in the truth, you will also walk 239 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:49.799 in love, because where one is, the other is always there, as 240 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.519 it is in God himself. God, as all truth, is not, 241 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:03.839 you know, a giant brain or something like that. No, God is 242 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:07.990 all truth. He he knows all things, he speaks truly all things, 243 00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:15.470 he is the source of all things and he is also love. These things 244 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:21.900 are not sort of two separate things. Within God he is fully both of 245 00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:26.900 these things, perfectly held in harmony together. And so when we are brought 246 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:32.970 into a life in him, we get the whole package. We get all 247 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.529 truth, we get all love. We walk in that, we make our 248 00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:44.130 decisions, all the things that we do in this way. If you know 249 00:21:44.490 --> 00:21:48.480 the truth, then but you don't have love. Well, maybe then you 250 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:55.440 don't know the truth, maybe you know it, but you don't walk in 251 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.839 it, abide in it, because is what he's saying here is those who 252 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:03.829 walk in the truth also walk in love, as he goes on in verse 253 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:07.069 six, and now we're fully here. In verse six, he says in 254 00:22:07.230 --> 00:22:12.509 this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. We walk according 255 00:22:12.549 --> 00:22:15.900 to His Commandments. So what we find when we come to verse six is 256 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:19.539 that the reverse of what I just said is also true. So if we 257 00:22:19.819 --> 00:22:23.220 know the truth, then we also walk in love. Well then, if 258 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:27.220 we walk in love, then we are also those who walk in truth. 259 00:22:30.250 --> 00:22:34.369 He says this is the command just as you heard from the beginning, that 260 00:22:34.609 --> 00:22:41.609 you walk in it. So the question is, what is it? What 261 00:22:41.769 --> 00:22:45.279 is the thing that we are to walk in? And he's just mentioned several 262 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:49.160 things. It's a it's a little bit ambiguous and commentators disagree. There's three 263 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:55.240 options. We can walk in love, the command or the truth. You 264 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:59.990 really can't go wrong with any of those in terms of living your life, 265 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:04.710 and they're also interrelated. But I do think that that that John Means the 266 00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:10.789 truth when he says walk in the truth. So the verse would read like 267 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:15.539 this, and this is love, that we walk according to Commandments. This 268 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:18.539 is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that 269 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:26.220 you should walk in the truth. I think there's a couple reasons for saying 270 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:30.730 that he means the truth. One is that to say to walk in love 271 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:33.970 or walk in the command would be to repeat exactly what he's just said, 272 00:23:34.529 --> 00:23:41.119 when it seems like John is emphasize or a developing his points more than emphasizing 273 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.799 here. So it would seem to be a little redundant to say that. 274 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:52.720 The second reason that is convincing to me is that verse seven, the next 275 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.430 verse, transitions and talks about a deceivers who have gone out into the world. 276 00:23:57.150 --> 00:24:00.190 And so if he is referencing truth at the end of verse six, 277 00:24:00.349 --> 00:24:06.509 then it would it would create a tight connection with the next verse and in 278 00:24:06.630 --> 00:24:11.180 Verse Seven. I find that a convincing and it pulls all of this passage 279 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:18.579 together so that he's essentially saying love is walking according to the commands, and 280 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:23.769 the command is that you walk in the truth. In other words, in 281 00:24:23.930 --> 00:24:27.890 this passage, Jesus is telling us that we must walk in truth. And 282 00:24:29.009 --> 00:24:32.130 in love, and that to walk in love is to walk in the truth 283 00:24:32.529 --> 00:24:36.569 and that to walk in the truth is to walk in love. So he's 284 00:24:36.650 --> 00:24:41.359 giving us these both these actions to do any showing us that to do bull 285 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.960 or to do either truly is to do the other. He's showing their relatedness 286 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:51.839 to us, that we might not go astray, that we might not try 287 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.549 and, let's say, get all of our theology right but then not care 288 00:24:55.670 --> 00:25:00.150 for orphans and widows, or that we might be a active in service and 289 00:25:00.269 --> 00:25:04.670 busy all the time, but have it totally disconnected from the Gospel, totally 290 00:25:04.789 --> 00:25:11.579 disconnected from the truth of Jesus Christ and his revelation, because many deceivers have 291 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:15.940 gone out into the world, he says, those who do not confess the 292 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:21.769 coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. We are to avoid this error and 293 00:25:21.970 --> 00:25:27.529 we are certainly not to hold it ourselves. And so, as we see 294 00:25:27.569 --> 00:25:30.490 all of these things, as we hear this command, I want you to 295 00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:34.690 hear it as God commands it. I want you to see its beauty and 296 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:38.960 it's splendor and, most importantly, I want you to see it grounded in 297 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:45.920 the Lord Jesus Christ, in his person and in his work. As I've 298 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:51.789 said, Jesus is the one who reveals the truth and love to God in 299 00:25:51.950 --> 00:25:56.670 the world. He is the one who reveals the truth and love of God 300 00:25:56.910 --> 00:26:00.990 from Heaven, his law, of course, and his salvation. And when 301 00:26:02.029 --> 00:26:04.460 Jesus does that, that, when he reveals that truth, he does so 302 00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:11.420 imperfect love, love for his father and love for us, even though we 303 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:22.529 were unlovable, beloved Jesus is. Truth is brighter and his love is warmer 304 00:26:22.650 --> 00:26:30.369 than anything the world is ever felt or known. Nothing comes more than this. 305 00:26:30.690 --> 00:26:33.519 And when we go astray and either of these two ways, it's always 306 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:40.279 because we disconnect them from Christ. It's always because we think that somehow, 307 00:26:40.599 --> 00:26:45.279 either in us or something around us, we can find truth or love on 308 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.910 our own, in our own way. And when we do that we elevate 309 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:56.509 above the Lord and things of course fall apart, because that's not according to 310 00:26:56.710 --> 00:27:02.660 reality, it's not according to the way things are. So the good news 311 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:07.940 for us is that God has revealed himself to us in this way, even 312 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:15.460 through his death on the cross. God has spoken in the Cross of Jesus 313 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:21.930 Christ so clearly of his love, of his desire and his purpose and his 314 00:27:22.049 --> 00:27:27.289 plan and his accomplishment to save sinners from their sins, we must believe him, 315 00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:33.880 that we must trust him, that we must walk in him. All 316 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:41.039 real love, all real truth, starts in him. He's the one who 317 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:45.470 turns us away from our selfishness. He's the one that turns us away from 318 00:27:45.470 --> 00:27:52.470 our distortions and reality. He's the one that turns us towards himself. I'll 319 00:27:52.549 --> 00:27:56.950 praise and glory and honor be to the true and loving God. Amen.