{"id":7257,"date":"2020-10-29T04:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=7257"},"modified":"2020-10-28T21:21:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T02:21:30","slug":"1-john-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=7257","title":{"rendered":"1 John 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2\u00a0<\/strong>My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin,\u00a0we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but\u00a0also for the sins of the whole world.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s desire is that\u00a0you may not sin<\/em>. Yet if we do, there is provision made \u2013 Jesus came to take care of this for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3\u00a0<\/sup>And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we\u00a0keep his commandments.\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever says \u201cI know him\u201d but does not keep his commandments\u00a0is a liar, and\u00a0the truth is not in him,\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>but whoever\u00a0keeps his word, in him truly\u00a0the love of God is perfected.\u00a0By this we may know that we are in him:\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>whoever says he\u00a0abides in him\u00a0ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

. \u201cThose men who think that God\u2019s grace, when fully, fairly, and plainly preached, will lead men into sin, know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm\u2026 Shall I hate God because he is kind to me? Shall I curse him because he blesses me? I venture to affirm that very few men reason thus.\u201d (Spurgeon)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Commandment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>Beloved, I am writing you\u00a0no new commandment, but\u00a0an old commandment\u00a0that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>At the same time, it is\u00a0a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because\u00a0(P<\/a>)<\/sup>the darkness is passing away and\u00a0the true light is already shining.\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever says he is in the light and\u00a0hates his brother is still in darkness.\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no\u00a0cause for stumbling.\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and\u00a0walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new commandment of love is necessary because of the darkness that marked humanity, especially the Gentiles. This was before the\u00a0true light\u00a0illuminated the finished work of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12\u00a0<\/sup>I am writing to you, little children,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because\u00a0your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
13\u00a0<\/sup>I am writing to you, fathers,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because you know\u00a0him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because\u00a0you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because\u00a0you know the Father.
14\u00a0<\/sup>I write to you, fathers,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because you know\u00a0him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0because\u00a0you are strong,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the word of God abides in you,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and you have overcome the evil one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, could say that he counted all his previous spiritual achievements as rubbish, compared to the surpassing greatness of just knowing Jesus. I pray if we are reading this we understand that\u2019s importance of the greatness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do Not Love the World<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

15\u00a0<\/sup>Do not love the world or the things in the world.\u00a0If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup>For all that is in the world\u2014the desires of the flesh and\u00a0the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c<\/a>]<\/sup>\u2014is not from the Father but is from the world.17\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of your standard for success: is it worldly or godly?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning Concerning Antichrists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

18\u00a0<\/sup>Children,\u00a0it is the last hour, and as you have heard that\u00a0antichrist is coming, so now\u00a0many antichrists have come.\u00a0Therefore we know that it is the last hour.19\u00a0<\/sup>They went out from us, but they were not of us; for\u00a0if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out,\u00a0that it might become plain that they all are not of us.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>But you have been\u00a0anointed by\u00a0the Holy One, and\u00a0you all have knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John wasn\u2019t talking about someone who leaves one church to begin attending another good church. He meant those who leave the community of God\u2019s people all together. This reveals that they were never really part of God\u2019s people to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21\u00a0<\/sup>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.\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup>Who is the liar but\u00a0he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is\u00a0the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.\u00a023\u00a0<\/sup>No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.\u00a024\u00a0<\/sup>Let\u00a0what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then\u00a0you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.25\u00a0<\/sup>And this is the promise that he made to us[e<\/a>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, while the idea of\u00a0eternal life<\/strong>\u00a0has reference to the life beyond this present world, it doesn\u2019t begin when we die. If we don\u2019t have\u00a0eternal life<\/strong>\u00a0now, we won\u2019t get it when we die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26\u00a0<\/sup>I write these things to you about\u00a0those who are trying to deceive you.\u00a027\u00a0<\/sup>But\u00a0the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and\u00a0you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and\u00a0is true, and is no lie\u2014just as it has taught you, abide in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children of God<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

28\u00a0<\/sup>And now, little children, abide in him, so that\u00a0when he appears\u00a0we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his\u00a0coming.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>If you know that\u00a0he is righteous, you may be sure that\u00a0everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John brings up a challenging image. When Jesus returns, some people will be afraid because they never knew Jesus at all. But among those who know Him, some will not be afraid, they will be\u00a0ashamed before Him at His coming. They will realize that they have been living worldly, unfruitful lives. In one moment, the understanding will overwhelm them that whatever else they accomplished in life, they did not\u00a0abide in Himas they could have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7258,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7257\/revisions\/7258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}