Epistle of John 1 Chapter 2
Part One of Chapter 2
2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments. 4 He that saith, I know Him,
and keepeth not His commandments, is
a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. 6 He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.
Jesus is our advocate. He is the propitiation for our sins. And also for all who will receive Him as Lord and Savior.
He’s the one who comforts, stands beside us and pleads our case. He assures our forgiveness
and absolution, the complete removal of guilt. It is as if we never sinned, we have His total acceptance. He has
done it ALL. HE PAID FOR US IN FULL.
His comforting presence is always available
to us.
He comes to us, Stands with us, Pleads for us, Absolves us, and Cleanses us.
Restores us to fellowship with Himself.
He stands against the accuser of the Saints, satan.
In verse 3 And hereby we do know that
we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Anyone who does not obey Him, has no
assurance that he is in fellowship with Jesus.
Only in obeying His directions, the WORD, is our love of God perfected. Loving God
means living the same way Jesus did,
in relation to people. How does this process manifest outwardly in our lives? We will:
1. Stand with people.
2. Strengthen others with Christ’s strength.
3. Pray for them.
4. Mediate His forgiveness.
5. Demonstrate His forgiveness though our acceptance of them.
6. Relate to them as forgiven people
1 John 2:7-11
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment
which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. 8 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 shineth. 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that
hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness
hath blinded his eyes.
Jesus loves us this way. We need to love
the brethren the same way. Jesus said
"Love one another as I have loved you". John 13:34
Lev. 19:18 says "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself".
Jesus was the first person to show true love.
He ate with sinners, befriended women,
and touched lepers. No one had ever even thought that love would stretch that far. We
need to love in action as Jesus did. The Old Commandment is new every time we see it accomplish what Jesus sent it out to do, His Word never returns
void.
Love conquers hate. Light quenches darkness. Light is identified with love and understanding. Darkness is identified
with hate and self-centeredness. Once one accepts Jesus
as the only Savior, a process begins
in which darkness is progressively defeated by light. Anyone who says he is walking in the light of Christ but hates his fellow Christian is still in
darkness. There is no neutral ground. There is light or darkness, love or hate. The Greek word John uses for hatred
has many degrees. Hatred is expressed in many ways. For example: 1. Dislike 2. Detest 3. Despise 4. Displeasing
5. Unacceptable 6. Aversion 7. Set against 8. Put down 9. Begrudge
6. Enmity 11. Hostility 12. Animosity 13. Prejudice.
To hate is the absence of active love. Let’s have the Lord deal with us where we
live. People hurt people. Christians hurt Christians. Christians who have not let God deal with them have a lot
going on inside. [The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10:4-5.] As we learn to dismiss the noise in our minds and depend on Jesus and
the Word
of God, we will not hurt one another. We chose not to return anger for anger, hurt for hurt and so forth, we will
not continue the cycle of hate. We can chose to become a person that returns love for hate. Verse 10 says ``If we love our brother, nothing will cause us to stumble. `` Love causes spiritual growth and progress while hatred makes progress impossible.
Anyone who has
hatred,
resentment,
and an unforgiving spirit
can never grow up spiritually.
John states that he who hates his brother walks in spiritual darkness, wandering.
He doesn’t know where he is going, he is blind and can not see his way.
1 John 2:12 I write unto you, little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have
known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write
unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have
known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of
God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Remember when your sins were forgiven, the joy, the liberating grace! We were baby
Christians, little children. We couldn’t get enough prayer. We devoured the Word and couldn’t wait to fellowship
and share what the Lord was doing for
us today. We couldn’t stop telling everyone about Jesus.
We glowed. Oh, to be new in Christ!
The reality is that He calls us to grow up. I remember when God dealt with me. One on one, it was me and the Holy Spirit.
My mind had to be renewed by the Word
. My emotions needed healing and release. And obedience had to be taught and brought to the forefront.
John says in verse 13, "You
young ones have overcome the evil one"
We first start with what is inside of us, that ugly, old man. If we can not overcome what is within us, we will never overcome what is without, the evil
one. We must grow and learn who we are in Christ. We must know in our deep inner core what Jesus did for us at the cross! We must apply that to ourselves,
the devil and the world. We must do this every time we encounter darkness.
God is molding and remaking us. We have become a problem for satan. He never wants us to know who we are in Christ.
and to exercise it because in it, we execute him (satan). How does the evil one come? He comes with self-doubt.
He brings division amongst the brethren. He comes against your calling. We
must know that Christ is greater and nothing and no one remove us from His hand. John
says that the fathers know Him from the beginning. As we grow in Christ and the trials we encounter are endless,
we can come to the place of knowing without a doubt that the Lord is faithful.
We see that He is always working His creative Word in our lives, making new
beginnings every day. To be a father is not male or female, and it is not
measured by age. I believe that it is measured by our walk with the Lord. Also, by our ability to stand in the face of trials and tribulations and to be able to
say that we know HIM and He will keep us and we shall prevail!
Rev. Jan Griffey
August 17, 2000
BACK