To Love one another - 1 John..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brethren, brother, sister, friend, my dear soul who is within the sound of my voice, wherever you are. As I said, I want to speak to you.

I want to give you a teaching. and an exhortation to love one another. And the reason why I emphasize that this is a pitching and an exhortation to love one another is because I want to follow what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 2. He called him to preach the word in season and out of season. The expectation of the Apostle from Timothy was that he was going to be ready to preach the Word of the Lord, in season and out of season, not contingent upon his brain, not contingent upon the circumstances.

But rather, Timothy was expected to be filled with the Word of the Lord. Timothy was expected to be filled with the presence of Christ. Timothy was expected to have the Word of God dwelling in him. So that his preaching will not depend upon other men or books or theology, but out of the well that the Lord had given him, he will take to preach the word in season and out of season. And the qualifiers that the apostle gives of that preaching is that Timothy is to convince, to rebuke, and to exhort.

That is that when the preacher, not only Timothy, but all preachers in Christ are to convince and to rebuke and to exhort those who hear the Word of God. And the method of convincing from the Word, the method of rebuking from the Word, the method of exhorting from the Word of God is with long-suffering, all patience, the Apostle says, and all teaching. My dear soul, we have not come to this place to be entertained. We have not come to this place just to simply appease our consciences and our emotions. The Christian is to be taught.

by the word of the Lord and by the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian is supposed to desire the word of God and to be instructed by those whom the Lord has appointed to instruct them with long suffering and all teaching. And while the scripture call me to preach and to exhort, to convince and to rebuke. And in this case, on the topic of loving one another, I do have to say that it is not my duty to teach you about the love of God. There's no words that I can utter that will instruct you and will move you to love one another.

The preacher is an instrument in the hands of the Lord, because ultimately he is the Lord, the one that is supposed to teach the heart of the Christian to love one another. There is a big chance that this sermon is just going to be another sermon that has been preached from this pulpit and from these Colombian lips about loving one another. If the Lord is not the one that teaches your heart to love one another, then we will remain in our ways. And if you think that there is no need for us to consider our ways and to increase in loving one another, then brethren, we are to consider our ways before the Lord. And I just want to join the same words of the Apostle Paul that says to the church in Thessalonica, in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 9 and 10, he says, Brethren, there's no need that I write to you about brotherly love.

Why? Because he's got the one that teaches you to love one another. The Apostle! The Apostle Paul says that there is no need for him to write about brotherly affection or brotherly love. Why?

Because he's got the one that teaches you to love one another as you have done it and shown your love to all in Macedonia. But he says, we urge you that you increase more and more. We cannot teach you with our words, but we urge you that you increase more and more in loving one another. My dear brother and sister, there's an urgent need for the Christians and for this church to increase in genuine love of one for the other, because that is an evidence of the genuine presence of the Spirit of God in the heart of a person. Religion can be done.

Religious stuff can be performed. Religious things can be organized. Even those who look to be okay and conservative and orthodox in nature, but the heart can only be changed by the Lord. So let us ask the Lord that He will help us and that He will be the one that teaches us an exhortation and teaching on how to love one another. And that is the topic of the apostle here in this section in verse 7 through verse 11.

It's an exhortation and a teaching to love one another. So I'm going to invite you to read with me from chapter 1, verse 5, paying careful attention to each one of the words. Going through chapter 2, verse 11, paying, of course, more careful attention to the words that we have in the Scripture from verse 7 to 11, the section that corresponds to our sermon. Let us read by faith, brethren, not wasting our time. focusing our brains and our minds in each one of the words.

If you have a different translation than mine, then just focus on your reading. If you have the same that I have, follow the reading and let us focus on those words that because the Lord speaks. This is the word of the Lord. 1st John chapter 1 verse 5, it says, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing to you, I'm writing these things to you, so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, 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 for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him.

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in him in the same way in which he walked. Verse 7, Beloved or brethren, I am writing you no new commandment. Once again, verse 7, Beloved or brethren, 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, some of you have, from the beginning. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you.

Why? Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining or shines now. Verse 9, whoever says he is in the light, and hates his brother is still in 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 is going.

Why? Because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Amen. Brethren, this is the Word of the Lord. I'm tempted to continue just reading and just think about what the apostle says through this letter.

But my dear brother and sister, we're speaking about love for one another. And if we're going to speak about love for one another, it's because we know the love of God. The same apostle says here that we love because He first loved us. Every time that the Christian is to think about the love that we're to have for one another, the mind of the Christian is to be centered and rooted in the love of God. It is impossible for a person to even consider the possibility of loving someone else apart from the manifestation of the love of God.

The love that the brethren is supposed to have one for another is a reflection of the love that the sinner has received from God in the person of Jesus Christ. And my dear brother and sister, what a glorious thought it is to think about the love of the Lord. manifested in all ways, but the greatest of the ways, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, that He was and is the propitiation for our sins. And that is the manifestation of the love of God, my dear brother and sister. Every time that you are to think about the love of God, you are to think about the day of your salvation, the day in which the Holy Spirit visited you, transformed your heart, opened your eyes, so that you will be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified and dying upon that cross for your soul.

My dear brother and sister, the Christian is to find rejoicement and gladness and pleasures forevermore in the concept, in the idea and in the doctrine of the love of God manifested to sinners. That's why the apostle concludes and says in Romans chapter 5 that since we have been justified by faith, We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one with whom we were in enmity. Now, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have peace with Him and through Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have access into that grace in which we stand. We remain firm in the fact that He died for us and He was the propitiation for our sins. And because of that, the Apostle says, we rejoice in hope of the glory, the glory that is to come, that he explains there in chapter 8.

The Christian, by virtue of the manifestation of the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ, can rejoice in the fact that the terrifying glory of the Lord that is to come, that is going to be manifested to all eyes and that everyone will see is a cause and a reason to rejoice. That's why the puzzle continues and concludes. But not only that, but we also rejoice in tribulations. Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. Now, this hope that has been begotten in persecution, the hope that has been conceived in tribulation, the hope that has been conceived in the idea that the glory of God is going to be manifested, is a hope, the apostle says, that does not bring shame, that does not disappoint.

And the reason why that hope that the Christian has, that does not disappoint, is because they love of God has been poured or shed into our hearts. By whom? By the Holy Spirit that was given to us. For if we were still weak or without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely, the apostle says, were a righteous person one would ever dare to die.

Yet perhaps for a good person one would ever dare to die. But God, he says in verse 8, but God demonstrates his own love towards us. In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Brethren, the apostle calls us to be compelled by the love of Christ, so that we will be able to understand that if He died for us, then we are all to take up our crosses and to count the cost and to live our lives for Him and for those whom He saved. This is the glorious demonstration of the love of God.

Many people question, why is there a necessity of evil or sin? That is for the greatest manifestation of the love of God. Because the Bible says that the love of God was demonstrated when? That when we were sinners. Christ Jesus died for us.

And my dear brother and sister, this doctrine of the love of God is the one that is supposed to take our hearts captive, our eyes captive to the person of Christ. Not only when we speak about these topics or not only when we study the doctrine of the love of God, but every single day of our lives. Because apart from understanding the power, the efficacy and the Depths of the love of God for our souls, we will never leave lives of thankfulness and gratitude, my dear brother and sister. This is the glorious love of God that was present before the foundation of the world. The Father and the Son loving one another through the communication and in the person of the Holy Spirit.

The same love present in the Trinity before the foundation of the world in which we were predestined for adoption as sons. As the Apostle Paul will say in Ephesians chapter 1, In love He predestined us for adoptions as sons through the Lord Jesus Christ. It was in the love of God that we were chosen. It was in the love of God that we were predestined to be sons and daughters of the Lord. It is in the love of God that was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ because For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

My dear brother and sister, that is love, that He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, that He sent His only begotten Son to die for sinners like us. And in that love of Christ, we have been saved. The Apostle says in 1 Peter 1, verse 20 onwards, that having been purified our souls by the truth of the Holy Spirit, we are to love one another from a pure heart. that having been genuinely purified by the complete and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our souls, that is for a brotherly affection, for pure love, from a pure heart, one for the other. That is that the genuine believer who has been genuinely visited by the love of God, my dear brethren, will have no option than to love one another because of the presence of Christ in the heart of that person.

And that is the message that John has here in these verses. This is the message that John has in these verses from verse 7 to verse 11. And he is going to call this love, or refer to this love, that we are to have one for the other, as a commandment. He says that this love that we are to have one for the other is a commandment. And some of you, those of you who have read now the text and perhaps are paying attention to it, will say, but then how do we know that the apostle is speaking about love for one another?

The apostle only uses the word love only once in the whole section that we have read. And in verses 7 and 8, he does not even mention the word love. How do you know and how do we know that the commandment that the Apostle is referring to in this section of Scripture is love one for the other? I have spent like 10 or 15 minutes of the time that I have speaking to you about the love of God, about the glorious doctrine of the love of God in Christ for us. How do we know that the Apostle there in verses 7 and 8, when he speaks about this commandment, is referring to the commandment of loving one another?

Three reasons I'm going to give you why the Apostle is indeed speaking about the love from one another. One from the context, one from the book, and one from the canon, as we are supposed to study the Scriptures. The first one is that I want you to pay careful attention to the way, or perhaps you have already done it, to the way that the Apostle writes. This Apostle is very humble in the way that he writes. I don't know if you know, but scholars and people who know a lot of language, they criticize sometimes the way that this humble Apostle writes.

because he's very humble in the way that he writes. And it's glorious, simple, repetition, and circular, as I like it. Now, he says in verse 5, if you're paying attention, maybe your brother and sister, in verse 5, it says, this is the message of chapter 1. Chapter 1, verse 5, it says, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is not darkness at all. This is the, I don't know what the word in English is, Johannine?

Johannine system of writing. One literal statement, elaboration and extension with application and examples. The statement is, this is the message that you have heard from us, that God is light and in Him is not darkness at all. The next verses he will spend with example saying, if... You say that you walk in the light, if you say that you have fellowship with Him while you walk in darkness, you lie and do not practice the truth.

Verse 7, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Verse 8, if... and 9, if... and verse 10, if... The Apostle does that, simply a statement and then extending and elaborating with examples.

Same thing we saw in verse 3, remember, with obedience. I hope that you remember. In verse 3 of chapter 2, he says, And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. That is the thought of the Apostle, obedience. Genuine believers will obey, and then what he does, he extends, he elaborates with examples, sometimes with conditional, which is what he prefers, sometimes with hypothetical people.

He will say there in verse 4, whoever, right? This is the hypothetical person. That is the word that you have, hypothetical, right? Hypothetical person, whoever says, I know him, a hypothetical person. Verse 5, but whoever keeps his word, and that is the way that he teaches.

A simple statement and then elaborating and extending with applications. Now in the text that we have in front of us, we have the main teaching in verse 7 and 8, that even though he does not use the word love, In the extension and the elaboration, if you allow me to use those words, we know that he is thinking about love and hate. This is the example that he puts in verse 10. Whoever says that he is in delight and hates his brother, he's thinking about lack of love or the opposite of love. Verse 10.

Whoever loves his brother and continues and continues with the elaboration of the extension. The apostle is speaking, my dear brother and sister, about the commandment, which is love one another. And if the evidence from the context was not sufficient, then we can just simply go to the book in 1 John 3, verse 11, in which he uses exactly similar language to extend and clarify what he's referring to with similar language, chapter 3, verse 11. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning. You see the similar language?

This is the message or the commandment that you have heard from the beginning. What is that? That we should love one another. And then he clarifies what the commandment is with more flesh or with more substance in chapter 3 verse 23 and 24. This is the commandment which is the center of his teaching in chapter 3 verse 23.

And this is his commandment, he says in verse 23. that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He has commanded us. That is the evidence from the book that He is speaking about loving one another, but of course, The apostle is not taking this from the air or a revelation that he has received. He has received these words of this new commandment of love from whom? From the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. It says, and I give you a new commandment. Let us read together, brethren. Some of you are going there. John 13, verse 34 and 35.

This is from when John gets his theology. What a place to get your theology from. John 13. Now look. John 13, 34 and 35.

The language is now here, and the thought of the Apostle is confirmed. It says in verse 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. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love. for one another.

Tempted just to remain there, brethren, that is the new commandment that the Lord has given us, to love one another as He loved us. I suppose that we're going to be speaking about that, but let us return to our text in 1st John. The Apostle is speaking in chapter 2 about that commandment that is loving one another. But did you notice something very important, brethren, in those verses? If you will return to chapter 2, verse 7 and 8.

The love is not called a virtue. Love for one another is not called just a virtue or a characteristic of the Christian. Love for one another is called a commandment. The Christian has a commandment of love. That is that loving one another is attached to our obedience.

Is a person obedient to the Lord when that person is lacking in loving one another, brethren? Please, brethren. And if that person is disobeying the commandments of the Lord, what is that person doing? Brethren, we have received a commandment to love one another. And while love is a virtue that abides in our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit that has given us life, love one for the other is a commandment.

And just as the Christian is diligent to open his Bible and open and read it, and just as the Christian is diligent to go to church, and just as the Christian is diligent to pray, and just as the Christian is diligent to come to the table, and just as the Christian is diligent to give to the poor or do whatever good deed, as we remember that we spoke about biblical obedience, then the Christian is also to be diligent in, brethren, loving one another. The Lord is pleased with faith, according to Hebrews chapter 11, that it's impossible to please the Lord without faith. But then in chapter 13, he says that with good works and good deeds, he's also pleased. The Lord is pleased with biblical obedience. Hence, the Lord is pleased when the brethren love one another, one for another, brethren.

But now, I don't know if it happened to you when you first read this portion of the scripture. It certainly happened to me that I thought that he was contradicting himself. Did you pay attention in the interesting way that the apostle speaks about this commandment? Because now we know that he's speaking about loving one another and that this is a commandment. But the apostle is going to do something very interesting here.

He's going to tell us that the commandment is old and that the commandment is NEW! And I don't know if that happened to you, perhaps it's only me, but the first time that I read the Scriptures, even for a prolonged period of time, let me tell you, I've been a Christian now for 10 years, and I think that for 7 years, I just simply read through the passage there. Because he says that he was old commandment, and it's also a NEW commandment. How are we going to understand, our beloved John, what you're trying to say in the Scriptures, if you use words that seem to be contrary to our feeble brains? How are we going to understand what you're trying to say to us, our beloved John, if you say that I write to you no new commandment, but then in the next verse you say that I write to you a new commandment?

How do you expect that we are to obey the commandment of loving one another if you're not helping and being clear when you're writing about loving one another? Now, let me tell you, my dear brother and sister, that the power of this commandment is, of course, found in the person of Jesus Christ. But when it comes to our understanding, the power of this commandment is found in understanding what the Apostle means when he says that the commandment is old and that the commandment is new at the same time. Because, of course, we know that the Scriptures will never contradict themselves, right? That is perfectly errant.

So we are to understand how the commandment is old and how the commandment is new, and what I'm going to do is that I'm going just to start with the old. What does it mean that the commandment is old? The Apostle says that this commandment is all that you have had from the beginning, if you pay attention to verse 7, right? And then he says this old commandment in the second half of verse 7, you tell me, what does he say in the second half of verse 7? This old commandment is the word which you heard and some of you have from the beginning.

The apostle is speaking about the oldness, if you allow me to use that word, the oldness of the commandment. He says that this is a commandment that they had from the beginning and that this is the word that they had from the beginning. Now, my dear brother and sister, let me tell you what it does not mean. So then we will understand what it means. First, what it does not mean.

That is very terrible English. What it does not mean. And then we will see together what it means. What the Apostle does not mean is that this commandment is old because he has been preaching so many years to this church that now they have heard this message so many times that when he's writing this letter, they already knew about this commandment. And then the Apostle says this commandment is old.

Like if I say to you, my dear brother and sister, this is not something new that I have told you. I've been telling you this for the last couple of years. It's something old because I have been repeating this so many times. Now, I'm saying that because there's a possibility to understand it that way, because it says the Old Commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. And in chapter 3 verse 11 says that this is the message that you heard from the beginning.

One could make the case that the Apostle is referring to the oldness of the commandment as, I have been preaching this from the very beginning of my ministry, and because I'm so old and I've been preaching to you such a long time, Now, it's not something new that I'm telling you. This is an old commandment. But that is not what he means. Even though you could make a case of it with the second clause of verse 7, that is not what he means. Why?

Because he says in the first clause of verse 7 that this is a commandment which you have had from the beginning. Not only the word that you heard from the beginning, but also it's a commandment which you have had from the beginning. That is that they were given this commandment or that they were under this commandment, that they had this commandment and this commandment was given to them from the very beginning. That is that the apostle is not the one that gives commandments. He only preaches the message.

And one could make the case, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who gave this commandment, right? The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who says this is the new commandment. And in that sense, it's all about brethren. What the puzzle means is that loving one another was a commandment that had been given not so much from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, which He is going to come to give the real meaning, but loving one another was the commandment that had been already given even under the Old Testament. Right?

Love your neighbor as yourself, and that is found where? in Leviticus chapter 19, the second half of verse 18. Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. The words, you have another word in English.

You have the spirit of the law and then you have the letter of the commandment. The letter of the commandment had been already given. Moses or the Lord through Moses had already given to the people the commandment, not only that they were supposed to love the God with all their soul, with all their heart, with all their mind, but also that they were supposed to love neighbor as themselves, right? This is what the Lord Jesus Christ will come and explain. He will say that those are the greatest commandments upon which the whole law hangs.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and also love your neighbor as yourself. This is what the Lord had said. And this is what the Lord had acknowledged, that someone said that it was the greatest commandment. Because indeed, my dear brother and sister, under the old covenant, under the old commandments, The Lord had already said that you are to love your neighbor as yourself. The people were accountable to love one another.

The people were expected to be circumcised in the heart and to love one another. The people were expected to fulfill the commandment, the duty of love, not only for the Lord, but also for the brethren. They were expected to do it from the old covenant. This is the old way. But the greatness comes, my dear brother and sister.

when it comes now in the way in which this commandment is new. Because that's how the commandment is old. That's how the letter of the commandment is old. And in that sense, they have heard the commandment from the beginning. They have had the commandment from the beginning, but the power of Christ comes.

not only bringing a rewarding of the commandment, but rather bringing the power and the light of that commandment. Because he says there now in verse 8, In verse 8, it says, at the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you. And now it says, which is true? What is true? The newness of the commandment, brethren.

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you. Which is true? The newness of the commandment is true in Christ and those who are in Christ. And what is the reason that the commandment is new in Christ and those who are in Christ? Because darkness has passed or is passing away and the true light shines now or is already shining.

Brethren, who is the true light of this world? Jesus Christ, my dear brother and sister, the old commandment of the letter now is made new, not because a new letter of this commandment is given, even though the Lord is going to speak differently of the commandment, but rather because the Lord, the Son of God has come to this world to fulfill that commandment. to fulfill the old covenant, to fulfill all the laws, and in Him, those who are in Him are not empowered only to hear the words of the old covenant, but now they have the life, the victorious life of the Lord Jesus Christ, to obey the commandment. to obey in the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ now is empowering them to obey. The old covenant was unable to produce in the people the obedience that was required.

The law is holy and is good, says the Apostle Paul, right? The law is good and holy, but because of our sinful nature we were never able to obey the commandment. But now the newness of this glorious commandment is in the person of Jesus Christ and those who are in Christ. Why? Because this Lord of ours has come.

Come with me to John, please, to see. You will remember how our brother took us through this for these many years, in these four years. Come, please, to John and just see this, because what is the content of the true light that the apostle speaks in 1 John? What is the content of the true light? Of course, we know that the true light is the Lord Jesus Christ, brethren, right?

But pay attention to the gospel according to John. It says in verse 6 of the first chapter. I don't think that I announced the chapter. Chapter 1. Verse 6.

You remember, this is John the Baptist. He's speaking of John the Baptist, right? Verse 6 of chapter 1. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light.

that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. Who is the light? Verse 9. The true light.

Same word in right of 1st John chapter 2. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. And the true light is the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is the content of the true light?

He has given that in verse 4 already of chapter 1. It says, In him, that is Christ, was Life. And the life was the light of men. Now, brethren, He is the light. He is the light of men.

And in Him there is life. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it or apprehended it. Okay, brethren, the true light is not only illumination, but is the life of Christ. What is the newness of the commandment? The newness of the commandment is not that Christ opened his mouth to explain it and to write it into a different way.

And now because it is in the New Testament, we are to obey it because it's not under the old covenant. It is in the New Testament that is written and repeated there. So we submit to this commandment because it's in the New Testament. The substance and the heart of the commandment is not in the commandment itself, but it's in the one that receives the commandment. so that the person has the life of Christ and is able to hear the commandment and not only hear the commandment and be accused or excused by it, but rather be empowered to obey the commandment.

And the only way that we can obey the commandment is not by having the light that allows us to understand the commandment, but more importantly, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 8, our brother repeated this verse many, many times. And that is, as he said, this is the pillar of chapter 8 and 9. Verse 12. It is 12, right?

Yes. Chapter 8 of 1 John, connection between light and life. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world, or the true light, if you want. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Oh, brethren, this is the sweetness of obedience under the Old Testament.

Not that we are not under the burden of the old, Not that we are not under the pressure of the old. Not that we have a different set of commandments under the new. Those who think about the letters of the commandments are usually the ones that are dead in the heart. The sweetness of the commandment of the Lord is not the commandment itself. It is the life of Christ that empowers the one to hear the voice of the Lord and to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is. the law. He is the standard of righteousness. It is being like Christ. The love that we have in Christ and He puts in us is that which makes us fulfill all the law.

Have you read that? What is the fulfillment of all the law? Love. And it's not that we have the ability to love one another, to love God, but it's the life of Christ in the Christian. Brethren, that is the newness of this glorious commandment.

And he says that the true light is already shining and that darkness is passing away. And from there, he elaborates in his hypothetical two people that we read there, if we return to 1 John, brethren. Because now we have these two hypothetical people, either those who have the light or life, or those who do not have it. So brethren, this is something very important. Loving one another is an evidence of genuine salvation.

Loving the brethren is an evidence of having genuine life of Christ in us. Loving one another represents and demonstrates what the Spirit of God has done or has not done in our hearts. And how are we supposed to love one another according to John 13 verse 34-35? As the Lord Jesus Christ loved us. What is the meaning of that?

What is the meaning of the love that Christ had for us? that He laid down His life for us. Return to 1st John, please. Perhaps you have already done it. I haven't done it.

1st John. Simply pay attention to John 3. 1st John 3, verse 16. This is the expansion of what love is supposed to be, brethren. Verse 16, chapter 3.

By this we know love. You have it there, verse 16 in chapter 3. By this we know love. That He laid down His life for us. And we ought, commandment, to lay down our lives for who?

For the brethren. Oh, brethren, brother and sister, so many years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, so many cities, so many nations that heard the message of the gospel, so many places to which these messages arrived and so many churches that were planted, so many pastors and teachers and so many people that sit in chairs, some people in buildings like this, some other people in buildings of different types, so many Christians that throughout the ages sat in chairs or preached messages from pulpits, Proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet be empty in their hearts of the love that Christ not only had for them, but that they were supposed to have for the brethren. So many people throughout the ages, satisfied and appeased with religion. So many people throughout the ages satisfied and at peace with the ways of men, simply ticking little boxes of religious activity, so that I will put myself in this social category that I want to belong for my life, yet lacking the substance of the power of the love of Christ. Because the love of Christ will move a person to lay down their lives for the brethren.

barbecues one time per month, bringing a little bit of food once per month, just doing this and that. Anyone can do that, brother. Every club can do all of those activities. Lay down your life for the brethren. Have you prayed that you decide to be spent in your body for the brethren?

Have you had the desire to break your body? for the brethren, because the Lord gave His for ours. Have you had the intention, not now, but in your life as a Christian, the desire to take your time, to take your resources, to take your talents, to lay them down for the brethren? Have you had the desire to obey the Lord in love? Brethren, that is pure love of Christ.

The presence of what I have just said is or is not in you. I cannot put it there. I cannot take it from there. Because the one who teaches about love is God himself. So the apostle, knowing that this is the situation in the church, he presents to us two hypothetical people.

One that is a pretender and a hypocrite, and the other one that is a genuine believer. Shall we check them together, brethren? It follows there in verse 9 onwards. Let us do first, Let us do first the pretender so that we will finish in a good note. Verse nine, brethren, this is the pretender.

Whoever says he's in the light and hate his brother is still in darkness. Right? Remember what light is from John? It's life. So the lack of light is death, right?

Darkness, death. Verse 9, whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. But I'm pretty sure that you saw that. The apostle says, hates his brother. Now, some people say, well, this is speaking of a backslidden, cold Christian, who is just simply going through a difficult time, or just so busy with the things of life, that now this brother is taken by sin temporarily, and this brother is hating his brother.

Let me tell you that the apostle is speaking about a lost, pretender, hypocritical person in the context of the church. Even though he says he's his brother, he's speaking about a false Christian. How do I know that? Because the Apostle explains it very clearly in chapter 3. If you go to chapter 3, you remember the example of Cain, speaking of brother Cain and Abel?

It says they're brothers in chapter 3, verse 13. Do not be surprised. Let us read from verse 14. Verse 14 of chapter 3. He's the person who hates his brother, a true believer.

Even if we say brother or sister. Verse 14. We know that we have passed out of death into life. Why? Because we love the brethren.

Now it says, whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Brethren, you tell me, is the apostle speaking in verse 9 about a believer that is just backslidden? Or is he speaking about a false Christian?

He's speaking about a false Christian, someone that is a murderer and does not have eternal life abiding in him. What is the situation of this pretender, of this false Christian? It's explained to us in verse 11. Pay attention to verse 11. It says, but whoever hates his brother, this is the pretender, this is the life of that person.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he's going. Why? Because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Confused and taken by sin. In the darkness, walks in the darkness and does not know where he's going.

Why? Because darkness has blinded his eyes. The one who has envy in his heart, that is something that remains in the heart of that person against those whom he called brother and sisters. He's the person that is spoken here. The person that has desires of affecting the brethren in this way or this other way, is the person that the apostle is speaking here.

He's the person who says, I love my brother, when they hate the brother and their lives, spiritual lives, is characterized for confusion. They do not know where they're going. They do not know the place where they're standing. They walk in darkness, they abide in darkness, and they are blinded by the darkness to which they belong. They might do all of the things that are necessary to apparently be a Christian in the context of the church, but in the depths of their hearts, they are taken by the darkness that belongs to Satan.

And it's a chaotic circumstances, the ones that go in their minds, because they are in darkness. Their mouths are open to speak about love, but in their hearts are filled with envy, bitterness and resentment. And every time that they see or hear the brethren, they are just bothered. the pretender, brethren, what a fearful thing it is to abide in the darkness and not to come to the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have, of course, there in verse 10, we have the positive side of it.

We have the one who loves the brethren, and our brethren here, let me just take the last few minutes of your attention just to emphasize, this is very important what I'm going to say to you now here. Let me just show you there from verse 10, the fruits or that which produces to love the brethren. The person who is a genuine believer and who is given to love the brethren, because loving the brethren is taught by God, but we're to be diligent in it, right? That is why it's a commandment. The Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, that make every effort to add to your faith.

You remember virtue and knowledge and all of this, ultimately, brotherly affection and love. We're to make every effort to increase in love for the brethren. These are the fruits of love in the brethren. This is the fruit, if you want, of love in the brethren. Verse 10, whoever loves his brother, Abides in the light, the light meaning Christ, the presence of Christ.

Chapter 1 verse 6 says, if we are in the light, that He is in the light, we have communion and fellowship one with the other, and the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin. Abide in the light. Brethren, do you want to have communion, sweet communion with the Lord? Make sure that when you come to the altar, you don't have something against your brother or sister, because it's best for you just to go and arrange those accounts or those things with your brother and sister, and then come to the presence of the altar. Because sweet communion with the Lord depends upon, at least in this context, with the love that we have for the brethren, abides in the light.

And contrary to the sinner, it says there in verse 10, my eyes are not very good today, And in Him there is no cause for stumbling. Endurance in holiness. The sinner is just going from one place to another, walking in the darkness, stumbling, does not know where he's going because he's walking in darkness. The one who loves the brethren abides in the light, in the sweet presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, where there is precious forevermore. And this endures, my dear brother and sister, in sanctification.

This is the sweetness and this is the fruit of loving the brethren. of loving one another, of increasing in love for one another, in dying to self. And my dear brother and sister, let me in a humble way and gracious way show you from the scriptures, the two enemies of our love, one for the other. Let me show you from the Scriptures, from here, from 1st John, the two main enemies in the life of Christians that prevent us from loving one another. The first one has been given to us in chapter 3, verse 16.

Pay attention to what it says in verse 16 of chapter 3. Let me present to you two of the main, perhaps the main enemies that prevent us from loving one another. 16, chapter 3, it says, By this we know love, that he, Christ, laid down his life for us, right? And we ought, this is the commandment of love, lay down our lives for our brothers. You tell me, brethren, what is the main enemy that prevent us from loving one another?

Self. Love to your life. How are you going to lay down your life for someone else? If it's so important for you to preserve, to keep your life, not to lose your life, as the Lord Jesus Christ says, right? If it's so important for you to preserve your plans and your future and that which you wanted to do, that which you wanted to accomplish, those things that you wanted to be when you were lost, Those things, those dreams that you had, that I could go up and be so reputable.

How are you going, if you hold those things as more valuable than the brethren, how are you going to lay down those things? Because an exceeding fleshly carnal love for self that is above others is contrary to the commandment. That's why in the Old Testament it says, love your neighbor as, yourself. Then the lawgiver comes and says, love one another as I have loved you. I laid down my life for you.

The prince of peace, the one who sustains the world, the one who holds all the treasures of glory, the one that is altogether lovely condescended to come to this world to give his life and lay down his life for yours. And now you're going to apprehend to your bank account. You're going to apprehend to your reputation, to your status, and to your work, and to all of your things that prevent you from living your life in the power of Christianity. And of course, brethren, I'm not speaking here that we will come and bring all your possessions to the church. You know what I mean.

Laying down your life for the brethren. And it's, of course, given to us the second. It is exceeding carnal love for your life, whatever your life is. And the second one is money. Pay attention to verse 17.

But if anyone has the world's goods, speaking to the church, but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, How does God's love abide in him? Rhetorical question, right? To say it does not. If a person has the world's goods, and is so given to accumulate, and accumulate, and accumulate, that when the brethren are in need, he builds walls of indifference in his heart, or around his or her heart, that he does not care for the brethren. How is the love of God present in that person?

Love to life, and love to possessions. Remember the parable of the sword? Possessions and tribulations and all of these things is what proves genuine salvation. Oh brother, is there anyone among us who is a slave to your own life? to your own reputation, to your own dreams, to your own things, to build your own empire while attending church on Sunday.

And I do these little Christian things so that I will just simply go as a Christian through my days. Is there anyone among us that is just so taken captive by the goods and the things of this world, the possessions of this world and accumulating and building and taking on to me that is just so busy and taken by those things that the brethren is just simply an appendix to the life of the Christian? Oh, brethren, And I'm telling you, because these are the temptations of the heart of everyone, to pursue the dreams of the flesh, to give ourselves entirely unto the things of our lives, while when the Lord Jesus Christ abides in the heart of the person, then we are happily and joyfully taking up our crosses and following the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what He said there in John 13, verse 35? How will people know that we are His disciples?

If we love one another, if our love is just the same than the love, than the cult across the road, or if our love is just the same than the club that comes together to play whatever thing just across the road, if our love and our interaction is just the same, just with Christian language and with Christian terms, than the relationships of the people that do this or that in the world, do you think that that is a categorically different love? that when the sinner comes to this place, he is fully convicted because of what is happening here? No, brethren, it is the person of Christ, the one who has to triumph in our hearts. Otherwise, we're just simply playing religion. And as I said to you, and as the Apostle says to the Thessalonians, if I write to you, there's no need for me to write to you about love.

There's no need for me to preach about love, because God is the one that teaches. If God does not teach us to love one another, then we're just going to continue church, and church, and church, and church, and church. And this indeed will be another sermon that has been preached by the Colombian preacher that was about love and did not produce anything in the heart of those who heard. May the one who gave himself for us Give us the grace that is needed, brethren, to die to self, to take up our crosses, to follow Him, and not to reinvent Christianity according to our own preferences of Western world, but rather to submit ourselves to the Scriptures, to count the cost, because He paid it already for us. And we are to be compelled by what He did, so that we will live according to what is written, and not according to what we think that it should be.

Amen?