Exploring the Demands of True Love: Unpacking 1 John and the Balance Between Sinless and Sinful Affection | Pastor Hunter Deel

If you have your Bibles, please turn to 1 John, chapter 2, starting in verse 7.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

Last week Pastor Ben started the sermon series of 1 John and we learned a little bit of the history of that.

But we will start in verse 7 and read, whenever I first read it, the very confusing words of the Apostle John Don't worry, it gets easier as we go.

Beloved, I'm writing to you, no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

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 because the darkness has blinded him.

I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his namesake.

I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him, who is from the beginning.

And I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know him who is from the beginning.

And I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

And I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

So, therefore, do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the, let's pray Heavenly Father, god, we read your holy word, god, and we pray that our hearts are softened and you give us ears to hear.

God, give this unholy person a touch from your spirit, because I am not worthy to preach your word, god.

I pray this touches someone's heart today as it has touched mine.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So we're talking today, if you did not see the two big screens up back.

We're talking about two types of love A love that is sinless and a love that is sinful.

And some would say well, hunter, I've never heard of a love that is sinful, don't worry, we will get to it Alright.

But a godly love, a sinless love is what we're going to talk about first.

So my grandmother, my dad's mom, was very loving.

She loved everybody, my grandmother.

She loved people at her church.

She loved people who she didn't know.

She loved people at Walmart.

If you loved people who she didn't know, she loved people at Walmart.

If you can love people at Walmart, she did Okay and, as Pastor Chris would say, and she just loved people, even if she didn't know them.

Well, my point is is that she loved us in the good times and in the bad.

She told us the truth when we needed to hear the truth.

She told us the you know.

She told us the truth when we needed to hear the truth.

She told us the you know.

She told us the hard facts of life.

And there was this time I was, I was little, my parents were off sitting in Vegas and sorry, dad.

And so my, my grandmother came down, which she did not do often, and she watched us kids and we had a spelling test this week.

And I come down and she's like you got any homework?

I'm like, yeah, I got a spelling test tomorrow, blah, blah, blah.

And she's like, well, okay, so you go up into your room and you study these.

I think it was like 20 or 30 words.

I wasn't good at math either as well as spelling, but I studied these words, words, and I'd come down, she'd smack down this piece of paper and she's like write them, spell them, and she'd give out the first word and out of the 20, I got like two right.

So I had to go back and do it and I would write them all down again, come down and she'd give them to me and I would do all this again and I would get like 18 right.

But the two I got right the last time I got wrong this time.

So there was no like grandfather rule where you just got to acquire these in.

She was like no, you got to go back and do them all over again and after like 45 hours of this and a lot of prayer, I think I got them all right at least once.

Or she just got tired.

I'm not sure which one happened first, but I went to school and the next day I took my spelling test and she came home to meet me at the door and she's like how did your spelling test go?

And I got 100.

Yeah, I don't think I can spell those words now I was like third grade, but what I'm trying to say is that, my grandma, there's times in life where you have to be tough on people, and it's still signs of love.

The church has adopted this new commandment.

It's called the 11th commandment, and this is my favorite.

One of my favorite pastors, votie Bauckham, says that the church has adopted this.

The 11th commandment is thou shalt be nice, and I'm telling the church now, there is a time for nice, and we'll get into this, but there's also a time for a hard truth, and that's still love, so we'll dive into this Point.

One is sinless, and this is a great story.

This is a great story of an example of how being a Christian changes every aspect of your life.

My grandmother did not know every theological principle in the Bible.

My grandmother could not tell me the difference between John Calvin's writings and, you know, arminius' writings.

She could not tell me anything about that.

If I asked her questions about the book of Revelation, she would say you know what?

Just read it and believe it, because it's in there and it's God's word.

She cannot tell me every biblical principle.

What she could teach me, though, is that Christian living starts with the heart, and that's what she taught me.

So point one is a love that is sinless.

This epistle is hard to read as a Christian who lives in a fallen world.

But this epistle is not written for you to question your salvation.

Every page of it.

This epistle is written so that you know whether you are in the kingdom or not.

Not for the true Christian to doubt, but for the true Christian to be settled and steadfast in their faith.

So I've wanted to write Paul this whole time.

John sets out and he says Beloved, I am writing to you, no new commandment, but an old commandment that you've had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word that you have heard and at the same time it is a new commandment.

I'm like, okay, john, which one is it?

Is it new or is it old?

I'm confused.

And I read the scriptures, at first like I do a book, so on a third grade reading level and slowly.

Okay, and I read it.

And then I'm like, well, that didn't make any sense, so I have to start diving through this a little bit more.

But then something clicked.

I learned something in Pastor Chris's three-year sermon series on Matthew.

It just sparked.

I was like holy moly.

So I was thinking, and it says this is no new commandment, because you have heard it from the beginning.

Well, john, the gospel of john, chapter one, verse one, says in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.

We have heard it from the beginning because it's in the nature of people who believe in God.

And then we also see this being taught in the law Matthew 22, verses 34 through 40.

Matthew 22:34–40

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of the lawyers asked him a question to test him, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

And he said to him you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And second is, like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

The point here is that the moral law hung up on these two pinnacles of the faith Love God with everything in you.

And you would do law number one through four.

And if you love people as much as you love yourself, you'd do five through 10 if you did it perfectly.

Then he goes on to say I am writing to you a new commandment.

And I'm like okay, so we see love God and we see love people.

That's the that hinges, the old commandment.

I'm like so where does Jesus talk about a new commandment?

Well, same writer, it's funny.

John 13, 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.

So Jesus gives us a new commandment, but it's not new, it's old, but it's new-ish.

Okay, so I was starting to read this and I'm like this is confusing me.

So what's the difference?

I want you to think about the difference of those two things Love God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus said love people as I have loved you.

And the second part is the new commandment.

The newness of this commandment is that Christ has loved us.

So we are to love other people not as we love ourselves, but as.

So the old commandment was love people as much as you love yourself.

And Jesus said hold up, I'm going to raise this bar a little bit.

I'm going to say I loved you, so you love people as much as I love you.

And when the news flashed, jesus loves you way more than you love yourself.

All right, and how is this possible?

Because we read this and it seems like a bar that is hard to meet.

If you talk to me on a personal level, especially Jan, she knows I can be grumpy.

If you work with me, like my buddy John, he knows I can be grumpy.

But 1 John 4 says we love because he first loved us.

The only way we are able to hold on to this commandment is to experience the love of Christ and then to be able to love others.

So it's not saying that listen, I fail at this daily, but I am able and I do love people because Christ has loved me, because if Christ is not in the mix, it's not love, and we'll get into that.

Verse 8,.

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because a darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

This is showing that he is talking about saved people.

A darkness is passing away and the true light of Christ is shining through.

So he's saying that there's still darkness, it's just passing away.

You're becoming sanctified, more like Christ daily and more light is being experienced.

So you are going to do this better and better and better the closer to Christ you grow.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

This is the same thought as Pastor Ben had last week and I told him last week.

I said listen, I said you was very grumpy last week, so I'm going to sound like cupcakes and rainbows this week.

In 1 John, chapter 1, verse 6, it says if we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1:6

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

In the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves from the truth and the truth is not in us.

So if we say we love our brother, if we have love for our brother, but we still walk in darkness, then we deceive ourselves in thinking that we are saved, but Christ is not in us.

So it's the same principle John is repeating himself this week, except for last week.

He was saying if you say you don't sin and you have no sin in your heart, then you're lying to yourself.

Well, this is saying if you don't, if you say that you love your brother but you don't do it, then you deceive yourself again.

Verse 10 says whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him.

There is no cause for stumbling.

If you do this godly love for people, then this is evidence that you are saved and this is proven faith and you're saved.

Now.

Love loving people doesn't save you.

Me being nice and kind doesn't save me.

It's not the salvation for me.

Christ believing in Christ's finished works I mean walking in him and being obedient to his word is my salvation.

But the evidence of my salvation is me loving people, like Christ has loved me, and that's always and this is where my grandmother's story comes into point it's not always nice, it doesn't always look kind, it doesn't always look good.

I'm going to tell my brother for a minute I'm glad you came to church.

We was in Orlando and we was coming back home, and the first time we went to Orlando and drove home we was all grumpy.

We'd been with each other for days and he hated me, I hated him.

You know how it goes.

He's like you're big and I'm like, yeah, well, you have a big nose, so whatever, it's fine and but we started talking about life and how life works.

And we started talking about God and children and I said, listen, man, we know you're running from God and we start talking about I mean, we get into the weeds and it's hard.

There's a hard conversation here.

I don't think we talked to each other for like two and a half weeks after this.

I probably think it's personal, but he's probably like I just didn't want to talk to you anymore.

But all this is being said is because there were some things I had to say there that was truthful but was hard.

I'm like listen, the gospel is no respecter of persons and I will tell you the truth.

You're locked in a car with me going down I-75.

The only saving for you is jumping.

It wasn't many weeks after that, us having a strong conversation and listen and our pastor praying and Pastor Ben praying and the congregation praying.

It wasn't many weeks after that, us having a strong conversation and listen and our pastor praying and the pastor Ben praying and the congregation praying that this man got saved right here on this very corner.

Loving people means something.

Loving people as I love myself means I might not have this hard conversation with you, because I don't really want to have hard conversations with me, I just kind of avoid those.

But when I read the Bible through the Holy Spirit, I get convicted, because Jesus has to have hard conversations with me.

The Holy Spirit has to have hard conversations with me.

So while we're preaching to people and telling people about love and about the gospel, it produces two things Either they run in rebellion or they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And those conversations aren't always easy.

Yeah, that's part of love.

Because then it goes on to say and this is repeating his thought but whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

It's to say, you're not saved Again.

Whoever hates his brother, so this is the person who's committing complete rebellion.

Whoever hates his brother and is in the darkness, walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

And guess whose job it is to guide them by the arm and to pull them to which way they should go.

It's through our love that leads people to Christ.

They will know you are my disciples by the love that you have for them, because I first loved you.

That's the commandment that Jesus gave.

And then we move on to this poem that John writes.

And I read this and I'm like this is an odd place for a poem, john.

So he says I'm writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his namesake.

I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him, who is from the beginning.

I'm writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the father.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him, who is from the beginning.

And I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

If you are in Christ, you have experienced every level of this poem.

You may be saying I'm not a man and I'm not a father.

It still applies to you this poem.

You may be saying I'm not a man and I'm not a father, it still applies to you Because you have.

If you're in Christ, you were.

He's writing to you today because your sins are forgiven for his namesake.

If you're in Christ, he says I am writing to you because you know him, who is from the beginning.

If you were in Christ, he's writing to you because you know the Father.

And if you know, if you are in Christ, he's writing to you because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

That's how we know.

There was no chapters and verses in the original text.

This is still probably part of his introduction.

He's saying I'm writing to you Readers of this letter.

I'm writing to you because you have experienced these things.

Point number two is I love that is sinful.

So we just got done explaining what a Christian does with godly love, and it is a love that is sinless.

I love people, I love God and I do the will of God, I abide in him and I work for God through love.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Point two a love that is sinful.

It starts in verse 15.

It says do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

So what is the world?

Well, john in this book uses world many different times, symbolizing many different things.

In the Gospel of John we see the world being used ten different ways, some meaning the creation, the cosmos, some meaning people, some meaning principles or ideologies.

Here he's not talking about the creation, here he's not talking about people, but he's talking about systematic and ideologies.

Do not love the world, the sinful nature of the world, or the things of the world, the sin part, the part that the devil has corrupted.

So we know it's not the world, the creation, because in Romans 1 he says we should look to the heavens and proclaim that there is a God, but there are people who worship the creation instead of the creator.

So he's saying that that is a good thing, it should point us to God.

But here he's talking about thoughts and systematics and principles of the world.

So it says do not love the world or the things of the world.

So what is love?

Baby, don't hurt me, I'm sorry, all right.

Love becomes sinful and that's what we're thinking.

This and as people are like.

What is love?

I've never heard love that is sinful come from the Bible.

Well, there is a love that is sinful.

Love becomes sinful when God is not the object of your love.

Okay, for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Remember love becomes sinful when God is not the object of your love.

I love my wife through a godly way, a way that God has signified in his holy word that a man should love his wife, that it is a representation of him and his church.

I'm not perfect at it.

Don't say amen to that.

I'm not perfect at it.

Don't say amen to that.

I'm not perfect at it.

That's what I fight and strive for.

Now, if you are shacking up with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, you're mirroring this type of love.

You're mirroring this and you're making a mockery of what God has said that this love represents.

It's not love.

You're mirroring this and you're making a mockery of what God has said that this love represents.

It's not love.

It's a worldly love, not love.

And your love, then?

The worldly love, is directed by the desires of the flesh, not by the desires of God.

It talks about the eyes, or the desires of the eyes, and we see greed all around the places.

It started to infiltrate the church.

The church people greed.

It's not a bad thing to have nice things and to strive for nice things, have nice things for your family, but the love of this is not designed to be what you're shooting for.

The love is to love God and love your family and to work hard, and in that you have nice things because you work.

But if all you do is you throw people under the bus and you cast them aside and you step on them to step to the top, your love is not designed towards God and you step on them, just step to the top.

Your love is not designed towards God.

Your love is designed towards the desire of the eyes.

And then he talks about the pride of life.

I said I would get this, I would get this text.

I knew I would.

Well, it's June and what is June?

Pride month.

I find it interesting that pride is listed here and it says this is not from the Father, it's from the world.

Every origin of sin originates from pride.

The devil went against God.

For what?

Because of pride.

I want something you have and I know I can handle it right Pride is the beginning of sin.

Now I will say this the word love has been trying to be infiltrated into the church through the worldly definition.

The church has said, or has been going against the church the Methodist church just adopted this movement Said that love is tolerance and acceptance of these things.

That was just said, but it's not love.

My tolerance for these things is not love.

My tolerance for these things is not love, my tolerance.

And Pastor Ben and I were sitting there and he was being interesting at my house, wasn't he, jess?

He was trying to help me work this out.

It didn't help, but he was talking to me about how do we talk to people who are living in a sinful lifestyle.

And I said listen, ben, I understand that if I'm going to know them for the next seven years, a relational build of evangelism would work fine, me living my life, them seeing that I'm different and them asking questions about that being different.

John and I at work have seen this Work wonders because we are with each other for 40 hours a week and living life differently speaks to people's heart.

But if I'm on a bus and I only have 12 minutes to tell someone about love that my direct go-to is the gospel that, listen, you are sinning.

You are a sinner, but so was I.

I may never have dabbled into the realm of homosexuality, but I committed cosmic treason against a holy God.

I lived a sinful life, just as you are living a sinful life, but let me tell you about someone who loves you more than you love yourself.

The love that a Christian has for these people is one that will not tolerate their behavior, because tolerance will send people to hell.

Someone had to love me enough to tell me I was a sinner going to hell, and they loved me enough by saying listen, there's a way away from this and you have to do certain things.

You have to repent and follow a holy God, and you may not be perfect at it, as Ben talked about last week.

In chapter 2, starting in verse 1, it says you have an advocate for the Father when you sin, but he's writing these things so that you may not sin.

Tolerance is not love, it is actually hate.

If the church tolerates and doesn't stand against things, people die and go to hell.

Enough with this gay Christian stuff.

Enough with adulterous Christians, enough with murdering Christians, enough with lying Christians.

Those two words don't come together.

Jesus says I am not of the world, you are not of the world.

So we cannot put worldly things and attach them to Christianity.

They don't mix.

Amen, they don't mix.

We do sin as Christians, but people who attach themselves to these kind of words openly live in sin and say it's okay because Jesus loves me anyway and that's cute and it makes a good storybook.

No, christ hated sin so much that he died so that you may not be held captive to your sin.

John 3, most famous chapter in the Bible.

Everybody knows it.

Every year it becomes the most googly searched chapter of the Bible John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

For God so loved the world.

Again, it's not the same world that is here in John 2.

It's His people.

For God so loved the people of the world that he gave His only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him.

But whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God, and this is judgment.

The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil.

John's making it very clear here that if you're not in Christ, your works are evil.

Ephesians 2 makes that clear.

I promised Ben I wouldn't quote Ephesians 2, so I'm not going to, for everyone who does wicked things hates the light.

What is the light?

It's Christ.

We have a natural rebellion against Christ through our flesh.

And he says and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

If I'm coming to Christ, my works have to be exposed.

The light has to shine upon my darkness.

And my darkness is now exposed.

But as here in 1 John, chapter 2, he says as the darkness is fading away, the light is shining through.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

I am saved, and yes, I am saved, and there is still darkness in me.

But as I grow closer to Christ, the light of Christ is bleeding through.

But whoever does this, what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

I turn the lights off in this room.

It's dark.

When you come to Christ, there is an obvious difference, because light shines and gets rid of darkness.

Darkness cannot survive where light is.

Sanctification is again a $5 theological word.

That means growing closer to Christ, walking more like Jesus each and every day.

In verse 17 it says and the world is passing away, along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides in Him forever.

I thought that was a nice touch, john, that you stuck that on the end there.

And it said and the world is passing away with its desires.

All this will be gone and it will go away.

And the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life will fade away, and everyone who loves those things will fade away.

Also loves those things will fade away also.

But John doesn't just let the story in there.

He says but whoever abides in the will of God or whoever does the will of God abides in him forever.

Through the context of this text, the will of God is loving people as Christ has loved you.

Whoever loves people who is truly saved, and whoever loves people as Christ loves him.

You're going to abide in God forever.

And while you do that, hopefully you're bringing other people with you who now truly love God and love people, and they will abide in Him forever.

The point of it is that we have to let it known through our love.

Our love cannot just take this gospel and shut it up.

Our love cannot just take this gospel and shut it up.

There is a point to all of it.

There's a reason that Jesus, before he ascended into heaven, says Go, spread the gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the Father and the name of the Holy Spirit.

Make disciples of all nations.

There's a reason that this is being said and that's because the ultimate act of love nice, kind, or you have to be sometimes rough around the edges to get the point through is that loving people truly means that sometimes you have to get in the trenches with them and love them where they're at and help guide them to Christ.

It's not always nice, it's not always pretty, it's not always what big TV church makes it look out to be, but it's what Christians do, because we love people and we love one another.

And we don't just love people the way that we want to be loved.

We love people the way Christ loved us.

So today, if you're thinking that, you know I'm having a hard time with this.

I'm reading through these and John MacArthur says it best that the first John, the first several chapters of 1 John here shows tests of the faith.

And if you read through these tests and you're like I don't know if I match up to these, even knowing that I'm a sinful man and I fall short, I don't know if I actually match up to these, then we're here to help you, to lock arms with you, to guide you to where you need to be.

And if you hate everything about this, salvation is waiting for you as well.

And if you have a longing for Christ, come talk to us as well.

And if you just need prayer for healing or anything like that, too, we're also here.

If you want prayer, you can come to this side.

If you want prayer and you don't want anybody to talk to you or touch you or whatever, you come to this side.

And I just want it to be clear as we start an altar call here that love is not always easy, it's not always fun, but it is demanded from Christ to us.

Okay, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, god, we thank you that your love is new each and every day.

We thank you that you loved us first, which causes us to be able to love you, god, I pray that if there is someone sitting in this room who is far from you, I pray that you've drawn their heart, called their heart, god, if there's been a seasoned saint, as we call them, and they've been saved for 50 years, but they're like you know what, I don't know.

If I love people the way that I ought to Bring them down, lord.

Ought to Bring them down, lord, tell them, call them down, lord, if they need healing.

God, I pray a blessing over them as well.

In Jesus' name, we pray amen.