The First Epistle of John: Lesson Thirteen

"A new commandment I give to you,

that you love one another;

as I have loved you, that

you also love one another. By this

all will know that you

are My disciples, if you have

love for one another."

John 13:34-35

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Let's begin this study in prayer....

"Father God, Lord of heaven and earth, creator of everything. I come to You this day to give you glory, honor, and praise for You alone are worthy of our worship. I thank You Lord and am grateful that You have given us Your word so that we may know how to please You and love You.

I seek forgiveness of my sins. I know I have not been in Your word enough nor have I shared the gospel message enough with those around me. I pray that You will forgive me and wash me clean with Your blood. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I pray that You will fill my home with Your Spirit as well.

I do lift up each lady reading this study to You today, Lord. I pray that as she reads today's lesson, she will be convicted of sin, seek Your face diligently, and stay in Your word daily. I pray that You will encourage her and walk with her throughout the day.

In Jesus' name.....amen."

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In that last lesson we looked closely at the assurance of our salvation and what it means to abide in Christ. We looked at the importance of knowing who is a Christian and who is not a Christian so that we are not led astray by false teachings as the believers were in John's time.

Today, we will look at verses 7-8 of First John Chapter Two.

Please take time now to re-read the entire second Chapter of 1 John.

As we read over this chapter, we see the word abide many times and we read about how the world around us is passing away. We are also reminded how we are Children of God.

1 John 2:7-8:

"Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining."

John is giving both an old commandment and a new commandment. How can this be?

Well, it is old in that it was given long ago and it is new in that now it has a new emphasis and seems new all over again.

Please read:

John 15:12 & 17

Deut. 6:5

Here we have Jesus reiterating what the Jewish people had known from the Law of God, but now they were hearing it anew from Jesus, their Messiah.

Matt 22: 37 & 40

John wants the readers of his letter to remember the old law but believe that it was fulfilled in Christ and in those who believe in Him.

Remember who John was writing to: new believers who were surrounded with false doctrine. Perhaps they felt inferior to the Gnostics who were telling them that the only way to salvation was through knowledge and intellect.

Sometimes, in this day and age, we can feel the same way. Many people look down on Christians for believing an "archaic" book and still following what our parents told us when we were children. They see Christians as ignorant fools and they see themselves as brilliant intellectual elitists (even though many of our critics do not even have high school diplomas!).

So it can be tough to live among people like this and still follow Christ. But First John gives us the encouragement we need to go on.

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"..because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining."

It can get tiresome constantly battling the world and its darkness. We live in a very materialistic society where one is judged on how much one has. It can get to a Christian who is trying to be content with what he or she has.

John understood this and encourages us with this last part of verse 8. We are to love one another and when times get hard and it is very difficult to love, we are to remember that the dark times are not forever. The Light is in the world already! Jesus has come into the world and He gave us the example to follow as we learned last lesson.

Now He has given us the hope eternal: He has already conquered this world and its ruler for us! We can rest in this world knowing that it won't last forever.

Please read:

Rom 13:11-14

Eph 5:11

Eph 6:10-13

Phil 4:8

We are encouraged here to "put on" Jesus Christ, our armor, and to meditate on the good things (qualities, if you will) of Jesus Christ.

By meditating on what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good repute, virtuous, praiseworthy...we are meditating on Christ because He is all these things!

Phil 4:8 is one verse I highly recommend you memorize. It is one verse I was shown back in 2000 when I was allowing my thoughts to depress me.

We had very little money because Scott had just been laid off and was trying to find a decent job. I was home with Nathan and frustrated. So, I was allowing Satan to use me. I was sinning in my thoughts!

Blessedly, the Lord brought a strong Christian women into my life who showed me these verses. I memorized them and when things got scary, I would lie in bed and re-read these verses in my head. I always felt calm and was able to go to sleep peacefully.

John wants us to know that we have assurance through the word that Christ is already here and He conquered for us. By reading 1 John 2:7-8, we can have that rest in knowing the darkness is passing away and the TRUE light is already shining.

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Life Application

In Romans chapter 13, Paul also reminds us that the "night is far spent" and that we already walk in the daylight thanks to Jesus.

So, as we learned last week, we are not to walk as we used to walk before we knew the Lord, but to walk as He walked.

Please read:

Prov. 23:19-21

1 Cor 6:9

1 Cor 6:12

James 3:14

These books make it perfectly clear that as Christians, we are to be separated from how the world acts.

When I heard that the actor Heath Ledger died at age 28 this week, I was saddened because he was a gifted actor. And I was sad for Nathan because he really liked this actor and was looking forward to the next Batman movie. I also was sad in that this young man was so lost.

It can be tempted to look at these young stars and be envious, and many young people are. But I can look at them and be sad as I watch them desperately try to fill their empty lives with so many things:

drugs

money

materials

alcohol

friends

movie roles

businesses

and finally, a trend we are seeing more and more: children

I think these stars see babies as just anothe accessory they must have! So sad....

Please read:

1 Cor 6:11

But I do not judge Heath Ledger. Because I was once lost too. But I was washed, sanctified, justified "in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God"....and he wasn't.

So, let's not get tied down with the things of this world. We have the Living Water that satisfies to overflowing! We have the Light shining already in this world! We have that assurance of salvation......having been saved from God's wrath.

There is alot to be thankful for this morning......I pray you take the time today to talk with God and just thank Him for all that He has done for you.

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Until next time......

"This is the new emphasis that has come with Jesus Christ, our Savior. The Father looks at his chikdren and says, 'Love one another, whatever you do.' By that he does not mean indulge one another, be sentimental toward one another, or turn a blind eye to each other's sin. He means that we must so love others that we are willing to die for a brother or sister's good. Oh, that Christ could say of us as John says of the believers to whom he wrote, 'I see this new commandment in you. I see that you are even willing to die, if need be, for the brethren's sake!'"

-Dr. Joel Beeke (The Epistles of John, 2006, p. 72)

Blessings,

Ruth