1 John – Passing the Tests • 04.21.24
Nick Lees   -   April 21, 2024

Passing the Tests
1 John 2:7-29

God’s direction for eternal life

  1. Love your brother as evidence of abiding in the light
  2. Love the Father rather than the world
  3. Abide in God by confessing Jesus is the Christ with the church

Good morning church family! Welcome guests + introduce self + series.

Dismiss 4th + 5th graders

Ushers + Bibles (1 John 2; Page 1211)

I want to start our time today with a little review. When we kicked off this sermon series two weeks ago, we pointed out that John had a number of reasons for writing, which he shared with the people. Let’s review them quickly.

  • Purpose – why was it written?
    • proclaim the truth that Jesus is the Son of God who has come in the flesh
    • help them have complete joy in Christ
    • protect these dear believers from the deceitfulness of sin
    • so that they would walk in the truth
    • protect them from these deceivers
    • so they would have confidence or certainty in their faith and its outcome – eternal life

Remember this is a letter written to people who are facing difficulties; they are shaken up as they watch friends who once gathered with them walk away to follow false teachers. They are having to navigate their relationships with these people who are now spreading a different message. John is seeking to encourage his audience to hold fast to the true faith. He is laying out specific tests or evidences that provide assurance that they are following the truth. If they pass the tests or bear the fruit then they ought to have certainty in their faith; however, if any are lacking in these things, then they ought to wrestle with their confession to see if they truly are in the faith. It is an opportunity for purifying your faith and increasing your confidence.

The desired outcome is to have a people who are confidently following Christ as they walk in the truth. The way that John sets about this is by presenting and developing three specific categories of tests for believers. Do you remember what they were?

  1. The Doctrine Test: What do you believe about Jesus Christ?
  2. The Moral Test: What is your response to Christ’s commands?
  3. The Love Test: How do you view and treat fellow Christians?

Last week, we had the opportunity to hear John teaching on the Moral Test as he pointed out the need to keep Christ’s commandments. Today, we are going to hear teaching on the Love and Doctrine tests, which is why the sermon is titled “Passing the Tests”. John wants his readers to have a firm faith that stands the test of time, temptation, and false teaching. And that is what I want for our church too!

I am pointing this out at the start so you can listen closely to the text and evaluate your own responses to these tests. As you can see from the bulletin, our aim this morning is receiving…

God’s direction for eternal life

Let’s turn our attention to the study of God’s Word now.

1 John 2:7–11 (ESV)

7 Beloved, I am 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. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

John clearly loves these people. If you look back up at 2:1, he had addressed them as “my little children” and now he says “beloved”. These are terms of endearment towards those who are younger than him in the faith. Remember he is a 1st generation disciple of Jesus writing some 60 years after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. He has labored intensely to teach the truth and raise up godly churches over these 60 years and he is not giving up on them when times are tough! What an awesome example for us. And what does John remind them of in his writing?

No new commandment, but an old commandment that they have had from the beginning. Yet at the same time, it is a new commandment because the darkness is passing away and the true light is shining.

Let me clarify what he is talking about by taking you to his Gospel account. Listen to Jesus’ teaching here:

John 13:34–35 (ESV)

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is the new/old commandment that John is bringing back to their minds. This is what the entire section of 1 John 2:7-11 was about, and it will come back up again in the letter. Love one another, just as Christ loved you. This is the fruit of following Jesus. Jesus loved them with a servant-hearted, sacrificial love, and that is how His followers are called to live as well. This is God’s direction for eternal life…

  1. Love your brother as evidence of abiding in the light

John says this is both an old and new commandment. It’s old because this has been the unchanging expectation of God for his people since the days of old!

Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

The entire system of the Law was designed to give the people specific ways to love one another well! This command was intended to be the way God’s people operated throughout the Old Testament. Then when Jesus came and walked the earth, he affirmed and intensified this command of God.

Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV)

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus affirms that the entire Old Testament was dependent on these commands. They were the foundation for everything God desired for His people. Love God with everything you’ve got and from that love for God love your neighbor as yourself. Well, the people apparently struggled to understand the extent of this teaching, so Jesus clarified it a few times in his public ministry. First, he challenged the extent of their love.

Matthew 5:43–48 (ESV)

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

God’s call is not only to love those who are kind to you, but also those who hate you. Whew! But that is the example God sets for us. He shows kindness to both those who hate him and those who love him. Jesus challenges Christians to a radical love! Would you pass the love test on this issue? Do you seek to love those who are unkind, sarcastic, hurtful to you? Who mock you for your faith? Or do you hate them in your heart or return tit-for-tat?

If you spend your days muttering under your breath about the people you don’t like or take to social media to attack your political or ideological enemies… you aren’t loving your enemies. And you need to do some soul-searching on that.

Jesus not only intensified the command to love by extending it to your enemies, he also intensified what it meant to love your neighbor. You’re probably familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10. Here’s how it starts:

Luke 10:25–28 (ESV)

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Notice the connection between inheriting eternal life and obeying this command! Jesus then goes on to challenge them that anyone who is in need is their neighbor. Jesus did not mess around when it came to loving others! As we know, he demonstrated this kind of radical love by laying down his life for the salvation of many! (1 John 2:7-11)

So, let’s take it back to John’s letter now. As he said, this is both an old and a new command. It was old in the sense that it has always been God’s standard for his people. It was also new in the sense that Jesus reaffirmed it and called his disciples to imitate his example in it. And John specifically links this to the reality that the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining – meaning that Jesus has been victorious over sin and death, and they are able to live righteously in him!

Because we have the privilege of living after Jesus’ finished work on the cross, we are living in a new era of redemption history. Sin and death’s power have been broken. Through faith in Christ, we are no longer enslaved to our sin nature. Death has lost it’s sting because in Christ we have the hope of eternal life! This means we can walk in the light by loving our brother.

You see, in John’s day, those false teachers/brethren were saying, “We’re in the light” yet they were hating these Christians who would not join them in their falsehood. John says that this behavior reveals that they are still in darkness. You cannot hate your brother and claim Christ. They go against one another.

Yet one who loves his brother abides in the light. This person gives evidence of new life. They live like Christ.

If you are here this morning and your life is full of love for fellow Christians, then you should take heart in that! This should give you great assurance in your faith. You are walking obediently in Christ. You are passing the love test.

It brings my heart great joy to see much evidence of people loving their brother within our body. I have the privilege of hearing of how small groups care for one another in times of need. Providing meals, hospital visits or phone calls, coming to help with home renovations, or practicing hospitality together. I know of widows or singles being “adopted” into family units so they can share life together. I have personally experienced gathering together during holidays with others who do not have family nearby – celebrating Easter Sunday together was such a sweet blessing! I have heard of families having monetary needs met by generous giving from others. Our pastor team has been blessed by having encouraging notes written to us or the staff has had kind words left on our whiteboards. Anytime a brother or sister encourages or edifies another while serving together is sweet. This is all the fruit of loving your brother in the local church! This is the compelling community that we say we want to be, and that Jesus has called us to be! Praise God for it!

So, if that is loving your brother, then what does it mean to hate your brother? What does that look and sound like?

In John’s day, it was those false teachers/brethren slandering or ridiculing the rest of the church who wouldn’t join them. We don’t know exactly what was being said or done, but it is not hard to imagine. If you follow Christ’s commands and do not deviate from them, at some point you will experience others who once walked with you treating you poorly. As they depart, they will speak slanderously about you, spreading lies in an attempt to justify their behavior, gossiping behind your back… They may even try to claim that they are the “true” Christian while you are believing lies. These may not be limited to verbal speech, but could include nasty emails, text messages, social media posts, etc., Spend enough time around broken, hurting people and this will happen to you eventually. These are unloving, hateful things to say and do towards one another. They are contrary to the teaching of Christ.

I have personally experienced this more than I’d like to admit throughout my 14 years in vocational ministry. Thank God for the blessing of forgetfulness and hope in Christ. It is such a blessing to know your identity is found in Christ alone and not what others think of you. When you are firmly rooted in what God says, then you can weather the storms of people who change their opinions of you.

What kind of person are you? Are you known for your love for the Lord and for the brothers? Or are you hard to please, easily angered, often complaining, or even talking about others behind their backs? For the one who loves the Lord and his people, you should have great assurance in your faith. For the one who does not, you should confess your sin, repent, and be saved. This is the test of love and I want all who hear to pass it!

Let’s return to our reading in 1 John to keep learning.

1 John 2:12–17 (ESV)

12      I am writing to you, little children,

because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

13      I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.

          I am writing to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.

          I write to you, children,

because you know the Father.

14      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.

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

In the flow of the letter, this passage seems to break the train of thought from the section that comes before and what comes after. Which means John had a reason for putting it there. There are two different emphases found here, the first is in 12-14 and the second in 15-17. In 12-14, we find John providing assurance for his readers.

He encourages them with things that are true about them. Even though he has written challenging teachings in what has come before, he is confident that they are walking in the light and loving the Lord and one another. They are ones who have trusted in the Lord, having their sins forgiven, knowing the Father, and abiding in the Word/overcoming the evil one. They can rest in these assurances that come from faith in Christ.

The second section, verses 15-17, contains the first imperative command of the letter. God, through John, is exhorting the people to…

  1. Love the Father rather than the world

This is the way to eternal life. Not only should they rest in the assurance that they know the Father and have overcome the evil one, but they ought to actively put off love of the world or the things in the world. And he tells them why! “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

This is along the same lines of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

(Image – heart with the throne)

The human heart has room for one master/lord, and if you love the world then you cannot love the Father.

Remember, when John talks about the world here, he is speaking of the systems and people that are opposed to God. He specifically identifies it in three ways – the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride of life (possessions). The word translated desire here is the word for lust and it means ungodly desires. This is an all-encompassing way of saying the things that your sinful nature desires, desires that come as a result of what you see and set your eyes upon, and even the pride that comes from what you have and do.

Surely, we have all experienced what John is talking about. Even Christians struggle with these temptations and desires. You are tempted to desire things that are not godly – perhaps the attention or affections of someone not your spouse, perhaps to cheat your way to a good grade on your math test, perhaps to steal time from your employer by wasting the day away… Or even being tempted by good things overly desired! You see a new gadget and won’t stop reading and researching it; you must have it. The thing itself isn’t necessarily sinful, but your eyes are fixated on it, and it is consuming you. The same could be true with obtaining a promotion at work or the right number in the bank account or having the perfect home. This second set of desires aren’t inherently bad, until you elevate them to a place they do not belong as if they were the end-all-be-all of life.

John says loving the world chokes out any love for God in your life. This is a disastrous trade-off! For the world is passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. You are trading an eternal outcome for a temporary pleasure/treasure. Far better to rest in the assurance that obedience/loyalty to God produces than to chase after fleeting pleasures/treasures in this life.

Now I don’t know what that temptation looks like for you. But if you do a little prayerful self-reflection this week, I am confident you could identify it in your own life.

  • What are you prone to give your time, attention, and finances towards?
  • What are you tempted to value above time with and obedience to the Lord?
    • What often gets in the way of your pursuit of God? – work, travel, entertainment, lack of desire, etc.,
  • What are you willing to sin in order to get or sin if you don’t get it?

Realize that it is a terrible tradeoff to spend your days pursuing man’s approval, or a bigger house/nicer car/more gadgets, or the attention of an attractive man/woman. These things will pass away and so will you if your hope is in them. But if your hope is in the Lord and you obey his will, you will abide forever! Our faith is lived out day-by-day. It is a faith of action, not mere talk. Let’s actively walk in the truth and put off the love of the world.

Well, our final section of text today is our longest. Let’s turn our attention to the remainder of chapter 2 now.

1 John 2:18–29 (ESV)

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

In this segment John is addressing the Doctrine test. He is warning and teaching them about the false beliefs of those who have departed from them. Just as both the Old Testament and the teachings of Christ had foretold, there would be people who are against Christ. The literal meaning of antichrist is an adversary of Christ. This is a term used solely by John, but the antichrist figure is also addressed in other terminology in both Old and New Testament teachings.

John uses it here to point out that not only is there a particular figure known as antichrist that is coming, but there are also many who are like him. Many who are adversaries of Christ. Paul warned about this in his letters to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:1–2 (ESV)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (ESV)

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

It ought not to surprise us that people hate Jesus and his church, but what is perhaps more surprising is that this teaching indicates they will come from within those gathered as the church! If you’ve been here in previous weeks, I’ve sought to highlight an often-overlooked fact – just because someone professes with their mouth to follow Christ does not mean they actually follow Christ. We have had many people come through the doors of this church over the years, some staying with us for lengthy periods of time, and yet truly only the Lord knows who are his for only he knows the heart perfectly.

As the church, we seek to do our best to affirm and protect the church by practicing church membership. We believe this is a necessary and biblical practice to vet the testimonies and doctrinal commitments of men and women who assemble with us. Even with that formal process, we are still mere men and women who are doing our best to evaluate fruit; we are not God. Membership, along with the ordinances of baptism and communion, are ways for the church to seek to affirm – “We have seen evidence of faith in this person and corporately testify that we believe they are a Christian.”

In his letter, John is warning the people that those who depart from the church to follow these false teachings give evidence that they were never truly a part of the church to begin with. Their physical presence did not correlate with authentic faith. The call here is to…

  1. Abide in God by confessing Jesus is the Christ with the church

This is addressing a specific situation wherein people were denying that Jesus was the Christ. That is the doctrine test which they were failing. So, we have to put guardrails on what we are saying here. This text could easily be taken out of context and abused to lambast anyone who has left a congregation as “not of us”. That is not John’s point.

His point is that the people who were leaving the church in their day/area were specifically denying the deity of Jesus – that he was the Christ, the Son of God. As we said in earlier weeks, that is a foundational belief in Christianity. If you throw that out, you do not have Christianity anymore. You no longer have a sufficient Savior who died for your sins and satisfied the wrath of God on your behalf. That’s why John is confident in saying they are not “of us” because they have forsaken the true faith. This is one of the reasons why we can say with confidence that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians – they deny or pervert the truth about Jesus.

Now, I do want to be clear about what we’re reading. The Bible does not teach that it is possible to lose your salvation. We believe, from the teachings of Scripture, that just as God is the One who draws a person to Jesus Christ, so he is the one who keeps a person in the faith. Listen to Jesus’ own words in John’s Gospel:

John 10:27–29 (ESV)

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

He gives eternal life, and they will NEVER perish. NO ONE will snatch them out of his hand. Jesus says this with confidence because there is no one greater than the Father. Just as Satan cannot take you out of the Father’s hand, neither can you by your own choices. I appreciate John MacArthur’s simple, striking statement on this matter, “If you could lose your salvation, you would.” If you understand the sinfulness of man, there is no way anyone could ever earn their salvation or keep it. It is entirely a work of God from start to finish and praise God for that! Listen to how the Apostle Paul speaks about it:

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And let us not forget John’s own confidence and reason for writing this letter:

1 John 5:13 (ESV)

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

There is incredible certainty and confidence that comes from knowing that God has saved you. And as a saved man or woman, you give evidence to that reality by bearing good fruit. In this case, the good fruit John speaks of is abiding in God through their confession of Christ. They hold fast to this truth. And they do so together, as the true church. And as they do this, eternal life is the outcome.

But what about those who departed from them? Didn’t they lose their faith? No. Listen again to what John is saying:

1 John 2:19–20 (ESV)

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

Their departure revealed that they were never really a part of God’s people. Their departure was evidence that their previous professions and actions were a lie. They have finally revealed the truth – that they never truly believed in Christ. While we don’t have time to go to this parable, I would encourage you to go to the Gospel accounts later and read the parable of the sower/soils (Matthew 13; Mark 4).

Jesus taught that for some it would take time and certain circumstances before their lack of authentic faith was revealed. But in the meantime, from all external perspectives, those people looked like genuine believers! Yet as Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, not everyone who says to me, “’Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” The fruit of obedience, lived out in a person’s life to the very end, is the evidence of authentic faith. And, by God’s grace, he is the one who provides such steadfastness in his people.

Notice also that John said that another key distinction is that those who remained have been anointed by the Holy One and have knowledge. He is speaking of another key component to authentic faith – receiving God the Holy Spirit. An essential part of salvation is God the Holy Spirit taking up residence in your heart (inner-man/woman). The Spirit equips and protects you to believe and remain in the truth. The experience of receiving the Holy Spirit is something that cannot be faked by anyone. A person who has God dwelling within them will change, will desire truth, will have a hunger for righteousness. Which also leads you to have confidence at his return, as John points out here.

1 John 2:28–29 (ESV)

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Christian brother or sister, abide in the Holy Spirit. Abide in the Son and in the Father. Remain in the gospel, the historic faith once for all delivered to the saints. Do not have ‘itching ears’ that lead you to run after the latest and greatest teacher or word of knowledge – this is exactly what Paul warned Timothy about! Our hope is anchored in what Christ has done and the apostolic witness and interpretation of those events.

Rest in the assurance of your faith as you live it out in daily life. Practice righteousness. Love your brothers. Believe the teachings found in the Word. Do not forsake them. As you abide in these, you can have great confidence in the faith.

If you’re here and you are wrestling with what you’ve heard today or find yourself lacking confidence in what you believe, please come talk to me after the service. Or if not then, then please email me and let’s set up a time to talk further. These are matters of eternal importance so let’s not wait.

Let’s pray.

Pray