Sermon No. 3266: The Priesthood of Believers
Exposition: 1 JOHN 2.
Verse 1. My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not For this we ought to watch and strive, that we sin not.
1. And if any man sins—What then? Is it a hopeless case? Oh, no, far from it! It is a sad case, but there is a remedy for it! "And if any man sins"—
1, 2. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: and He is the Propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Come you, then, to Christ for pardon, whether you are Jews or Gentiles, whether you are saints or sinners, whether you are old or young, whether you are moral or immoral, for God is both able and willing to forgive all manner of sin because of the Propitiation offered by His well-beloved Son "Jesus Christ the Righteous."
3. And hereby we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. Obedience is the test of discipleship. Mere head knowledge is all in vain, and all in vain our fears unless we render a practical obedience to the commandments of Christ. We shall not only savingly know Him, but we shall "know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments."
4. He that says, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. This is a terrible condition for anyone to be in—to say that he knows Christ, and yet to have the Holy Spirit calling him a liar because he is not keeping Christ's commandments! Again I remind you that obedience is essential to Christian discipleship. If we refuse to obey Christ's commandments, it is clear that we do not really know the Savior at all—we are not even beginners in the school of Christ.
5. But whoever keeps His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. When every word of His is precious to us and when we strive to live according to His precepts, then we know that "we are in Him." This is even more than knowing that we know Him, for it is the assurance that we are united to Him by a living connection which can never be broken.
6. He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked [See Sermon #1732, Volume 29—in him—like HE IS.] What a walk would that be! How holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners is the man who tries to walk even as Christ walked—
"Lord, I desire to live as one Who bears a blood-bought name, As one who fears but grieving You, And knows no other shame. As one by whom Your walk below Should never be forgot As one who gladly would keep apart From all You love not."
7-9. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now yours. He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. Love is the true test of light—that light which leads us to love God, to love Christ, to love the Truth of God, to love God's people, yes, and to love the whole world of men for their good—this is the love that attests the light we have to be the very Light of God!
10. He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. A loving spirit, kind, generous, forgiving, unselfish, seeking the good of others—this is one of the best proofs that our natural darkness has gone and that true spiritual Light of God is within us. Some persons think very much of the Doctrine of Christ, but very little of the Spirit of Christ. Let such remember that it is written, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." If we do not know what it is to love, then we do not, in the Scriptural sense, know what it is to live! We are dead! Hatred is the cerement in which the dead soul is wound up, the grave clothes in which it is put away in the tomb. But love is the garment of life in which a truly quickened spirit arrays itself. The one who is full of hatred dwells in darkness, but he that loves, abides in the light. Note how love and life and light are most blessedly linked to one another.
11-13. But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you, for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. "You are old men, and you like to think of old things. The everlasting love of God, the Covenant made with Christ before the worlds were formed— these are things that are very dear to you—and you prize beyond all other, 'Him that is from the beginning.'"
13. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the Wicked One. "In the days of your strength, you have won the victory which no human power can ever win unaided. You have overcome that Wicked One who would easily have overcome you if you had been left to fight him by yourselves."
13. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father That is all that little children need to know at first. They may not know the great mysteries that the fathers have fathomed, they may not well know some things that the young men know, but even babes in Christ know the Father and rejoice in His love!
14. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. Twice, you see, John says the same thing about the fathers and he says nothing more concerning them. But truly, to "have known Him that is from the beginning is practically to know all that even the fathers need to know or can know, for this knowledge includes all other that is worth knowing!
14. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the Wicked One.Here again John repeats his former statement concerning the young men, but he adds to it
"because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you." There is a purpose in the repetition of each case—it is to emphasize the importance of the Apostolic declarations.
15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. "Your affections are meant for something better than these transient and defiled things, so let not your heart's love flow out to things so soiled and base. 'Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.'"
15. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. These two things are such deadly opposites that they cannot live together! Where the love of the Father is, there cannot be the love of the world! There is no room in us for two loves. The love of the world is essentially idolatry and God will not be worshipped side by side with idols. "If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Does not that text draw a very sharp distinction between those who love the Lord and those who love Him not? Remember, children of God, that this is the language of John, the Apostle of Love—and true love is honest, outspoken, heart-searching, heart-trying! Do not imagine that there is any love to your souls in the heart of the preacher who preaches smooth things and who flatters you with his, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace! No, the highest, deepest, most Heaven-inspired love is that which searches and tries the heart lest there should be any deception there.
16. Forall thatis in the world, the lust ofthe flesh, and the lust ofthe eyes, and thepride oflife, is not ofthe Father, but is ofthe world. That devil's trinity—"the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"—"is not of the Father, but is of the world."
17. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof.It is only a puff, a phantom, a bubble, a mirage which will melt away as you try to approach it! There is nothing substantial in it.
17. But he that does the will of God abides forever Not, "he that does some great thing to be seen of men." Not, "he that builds a row of almshouses, or leaves a great mass of money to charity when he dies because he could not possibly carry it away with him." Not, "he that sounds a trumpet before him to let everybody know what a good man he is." Not, "he that must outdistance everybody else." But, "he that does the will of God abides forever." Obedience to the will of God is the pathway to perpetual honor and everlasting joy!
18. Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. And now, I think, even more than when John wrote, is this the fact, for antichrists are multiplying on all sides and there are even worse evils to come than we have seen as yet! And it, therefore, behooves Christians to be upon the watch and to let this Truth comfort them, that, "it is the last time." Once get through this dispensation, and the battle is ended even though the dispensation should be protracted beyond our hope and [See Sermons #811, Volume 14—UNTO YOU YOUNG MEN and #1715, Volume 29—A DESCRIPTION OF YOUNG MEN IN CHRIST.] desire, yet, still, once get through it and it is over! This is to be the last charge of our great adversary and all his hosts. Stand fast, therefore, you soldiers of the Cross, stand like rocks amidst the onslaught of the waves, and the victory shall yet be yours!
19. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.The worst of men go out from among the best of men. The antichrists go out from the Church of Christ. The raw material for a devil was an angel. To make a Judas, you must make him out of an Apostle! May God purify His professing Church since even in her own loins she breeds adversaries of the faith.
20. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. The Spirit of God will teach you as you need to know. He will so instruct you that you shall know all that is for your soul's good and for His Glory.
21. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.That which is of man's making is false, "but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."
22. 23. Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ?He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: [but] he that acknowledges the Son, has the Father also. Some pretend to honor the Father while they dishonor the Son, but this can never really be done. Jesus truly said, "I and My Father are One," so that he that denies the Son, also denies the Father.
24. Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. As it was the Truth of God that was revealed to them at the first, there was no need of a later Revelation to correct the mistakes of the first, as some foolishly and falsely teach nowadays.
25. And this is the promise that He has promised us, even eternal life. Let those that want them have these novelties, these constant changes. We who believe in Jesus have something far better, even the promise of eternal life!
26. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. They would lead you astray if they could, so beware of them. "Forewarned is forearmed."
27. 28. But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him—How John continues to urge us to stand fast in Christ! As the Holy Spirit has taught us to trust Christ, so would He have us "abide in Him." And this is one great reason why we are to abide in Him—
28. 29. That, when He shallappear, we may have confidence, andnot be ashamed before Him at His coming. Ifyou know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of Him.