Brother David is going to come preach to us again tonight. I appreciate Brother David for all his labors and help. I've been keeping him busy while we're here. And they'll be here one more Sunday after this, right? Yes, sir. So I appreciate David. I appreciate that he always takes us back to the Word of Christ and to faith and hope in Christ always. Glad to hear you, brother. We'll be back in 1 John, so you can go ahead and turn there back to the letter there, 1 John. Before I read, I'll pray. And in the prayer, I will read part of a hymn that our brothers and sisters in China regularly sing was brought to my mind this morning as Pastor Mark dealt with the scripture on being filled with the spirit. And so let us pray. Father, we do come to you. We ask for your grace and your mercy to be poured out at this moment because you are the one true and living God. And we want to worship you right. We confess that we need to be strengthened, enabled, given life, and to be able to live a life that pleases you. And so Father, I pray that you will speak to us through your word, and Lord, that you would fill us up with the truth. May we know the truth, and may the truth set us free, for the truth always teaches us about Jesus. I am weakness, full of weakness. At thy feet I bow. Bless, divine, eternal Spirit. Fill with power. Fill me now. Fill me now. Fill me now. Holy Spirit, fill me now. Fill me with thy hallowed presence. Come, O come. and fill all of us now. And it's through Jesus that I pray that. Amen. As we look to 1 John, I dealt with chapter 2, verses 3 through 6. Chapter 2, verses 3 through 6. This afternoon, we'll look to chapter 2, verses 4 through 11. get into those verses, I would like to say some introductory comments. I am thankful for this letter, 1 John, and McLaren's exposition brought out this about 1 John. Listen to these words. He writes, the simplest words may carry the deepest thoughts. Perhaps angels and little children speak very much alike. This letter, like all of John's writings, is easily understood in speech, profound in thought, clear and deep, like the abysses of mid-ocean." So again, he's making comments on this letter, what we call 1 John. He says that his terms are such as a child can understand. His sentence is short and inartificial. He does not reason, he declares. So you think about the scripture, he's declaring the truth. He has neither argument nor rhetoric. but he teaches us the deepest truths and shows us that we get nearer to the center, we get nearer to the truth by insight or understanding, simply understanding what these words say rather than by logic or argumentation. And that is something that we need to come to terms with as far as the word of God goes. Certainly there's rhetoric and there is argumentation, there's logic in it, but also it's a declaration of the truth. and this truth we simply need to receive. We simply need to receive this truth and take it as our own, saying this is God's truth and we want to believe the truth. So let's test these comments made by McLaren. When we look back on a couple verses from the previous parts of 1 John, let's test and see if we can understand what John is saying to his readers. Chapter 1, verse 8, Can we understand this? 1 John 1 verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And then verse 9 of chapter 1, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we're testing. Are these words simple? Are they clear? And then also in chapter two, verses one and two, my little children, 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. So there is hope for the one who does sin. We can simply learn from that, and that is Jesus Christ. He, verse two, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And if we had a couple simple definitions of advocate and propitiation, we would have a thorough understanding of the good news of the gospel, is there is a helper, one that's called alongside, that we can be helped, and it is by Jesus, Jesus Christ the righteous. And also we know that Jesus is the propitiation. If we could understand this verse, if we just had a definition of that word, because it is a biblical word we need to understand it. This is an offering to appease or satisfy an angry party. And so Jesus died on the cross as a sin sacrifice. God the Father's wrath has been satisfied by Jesus. And then we saw last week chapter 2 verse 3, by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. These teachings are clear and I pray that God would enable us to clearly see the truth here. But now we are going to look to chapter 2 verses 7 through 11. Let me read those. 1 John 2, beginning in verse 7. Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you 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. 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 because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Loving the brethren is evidence that you know Jesus. Loving the brethren is evidence that you know Jesus. I know that you've already heard a message very clearly that brings out this truth from this letter, but as I seek to work through it, We see that this is a theme that comes up over and over again. And as Brother Micah mentioned this morning in the biblical interpretation class, he said, if God says something twice, you need to listen. We know we need to listen if God says something once, but he said this more than once, more than twice in the first John. He's talking about love for the brethren. But let's look here to verse 7. Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard." John is not writing anything new. These believers have had this commandment from the beginning. From when they first heard the gospel, they first heard the teaching of Jesus, they've had this information. This commandment is a word that they have heard, And the question is what have they heard from the beginning? And let's simply say this, from the beginning they have heard the commandment to love. They have heard the commandment to love, to live a life of love. And in verses 9 to 11 we will see that John is making reference particularly to the commandment to love. So how old is the command to love? You know, we will all agree that we ought to love, but how old is it? Well, the command to love existed certainly when Jesus walked the earth. Certainly when Jesus walked the earth, He was questioned. What is the greatest commandment? His answer we know. I hope these verses are burned into our mind, but it's from Matthew chapter 22 and it's verses 36 through 40. And so someone came to Jesus and said, Which is the great commandment in the law? And we know what he said, most of you can quote this. Jesus said first, he said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. So the command to love, to love God. And then the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. On these two depends all the law and the prophets. So the command to love is certainly central to the scriptures. And how old is it? Well, when Jesus walked the earth, he certainly declared it. But what is Jesus declaring? Did he make this, did he declare this truth when he was on earth for the first time? No, God had already declared this long before Jesus walked the earth in his state of incarnation. So we know that the commandment of God existed before Jesus walked the earth. And that would be the command to love God we see in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. We see there that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. That's what Jesus quoted there in Matthew 22. This is an old commandment. We need to see that. We also know that the command to love neighbor is an old commandment. If you go to Leviticus chapter 19, you'll see a long section that is really focusing on love of neighbor. It's quite detailed and beautiful, the love that God would have people to have for one another, particularly His people for one another. In Leviticus 19, if you read all of 9 through 18, you will see this spelled out clearly. What does love look like for your neighbor? But I'll read verse 18 from Leviticus 19. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. You see, the commandment is old, and that's what John says. He says that he's writing to these believers, and he says, Beloved, I'm writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you've had from the beginning. And they had it from the beginning, but I'm telling you, it's even back, it goes back much further than these believers that John's writing to. For this command has been established, this command of love has been established for a long time. And I hope that we will see unity in the Scriptures. When you read your Bible, I hope you begin to see unity, how it's actually connected, that the New Testament and the Old Testament are not these two completely separated things, but there is actually much unity in the Scriptures. When we interpret the Bible, we need to let Scripture interpret Scripture. And so I've simply thought about with you the command to love and how old it is. And we see that it is all throughout the scripture. There will be other places we could go as well. And John, he says that he's writing an old commandment. We can see that the Old Testament is certainly the foundation for the New Testament. If we want to understand the New Testament or write, we need to have some understanding of the Old Testament. And certainly for us, we have the privilege of having the whole counsel of God. The word has been given to us by God's grace and in His ways, we have the whole counsel. This is the foundation for our Christian life. All of this Bible that we are able to hold in our hands. And so may we this afternoon have an increased and ever increasing respect for the word of God. and an increasing submission to the Word of God. So John says this is the Old Commandment, but then John writes that there's something new about the Old Commandment. So look with me, 1 John 2, verse 8. 1 John 2 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 the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. We saw verse 7 and John said, I'm not writing a new commandment. Now the very next verse he says a new commandment is what he is writing. John, is this old or new? And our answer must be both. It is old and it is new. And so in what way is the commandment new? There must be something new about the Old Commandment. And here it is. This is true in Jesus and in you, meaning the Christians that John is writing to. By application, the Christians, those of us that are Christians here reading this, this is true in Jesus and in you. So how is the Old Commandment new in Jesus and in Christians? Well, it says there in the scripture, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Because darkness, because the darkness is passing away and true light is already shining. Because Jesus doesn't live in the darkness. No, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And because Christians, Christians have been called out of darkness into this marvelous light, into His marvelous light. We see that in 1 Peter 2. You know, in John 8, verse 12, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And so these old commandments are new for Jesus and for the Christian because we're not in darkness anymore. Jesus never was in darkness. He's always been walking in the light. But now the Christians, the followers of Christ, are walking in the light as well. Christians have begun, certainly, they have begun to walk in the light. The newness is that Jesus actually lived out the old commandments. He actually lived out. For Jesus never sinned. He never sinned. We don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have a high priest who was in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin. This is something new about these old commandments. There had never been someone to walk in the light of these commandments, in the perfect light of these commandments as Jesus did. We know that Jesus never sinned, but for our sake, the Father made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus never sinned. I hope this is a sweet, sweet truth to us over and over again because we know our sin, right? If we are Christians, we know our sin. But we also know that the one who never sinned is an acceptable savior. We know that Jesus committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He, Jesus, bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. for you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls." The newness is that Jesus walked in the light, perfectly in light of the old commandments. He always obeyed the Father. And this is new. And the newness is that Christians are actually enabled to live to live out these old commandments. You are actually enabled to live out these old commandments. For we know that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. This is good news. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come from 2 Corinthians 5.17. And we know that this new covenant that God has with His people, it's going to be a covenant, it is a covenant where He puts His laws, God puts His laws in His people's minds. And what else does He do? He writes them on their heart. So there's been a heart change for those that are in the light, have begun to walk in the light, have begun to be walking by in light of the old commandments, they are in a new way obeying them actually. And so we can know the Lord. And Ezekiel 36 gives us kind of a picture, many people see a picture of the new covenant. And God says, I will give you a new heart and a spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and listen to this, and cause you to walk in my statutes. and be careful to obey my rules." This is something new about those old commandments. Many times past, in old times past, and even today, sometimes people will simply try to observe the commandments of God just in the flesh. They'll try to just say, well, here's the letter of the law, and I'm going to just follow it, and then I'm going to make God happy. The good news is that, well, the bad news is we can't actually do that. That outward observance is not the end goal of God, but it is actually the obedience from the heart. It is actually love toward God, which He works in us. And so the good news is that we have been enabled to begin, I say, to obey the commandments of God. This is very new in the sense that this is the freshness, this is the life that's put upon the old commandments. Jesus himself obeyed them all and we are enabled to obey the commands of God. Jesus emphasized the commandment to love one another. And so now we're transitioning from what command are we actually speaking of, Jesus emphasized the command to love one another. Turn with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13, we will see this emphasis. John chapter 13 beginning in verse 34. And what is the newness of this commandment that John writes of in the letter? Well, in the Gospel we see the words of Jesus, John chapter 13 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." So Jesus emphasized love for one another and he called this a new commandment that he gives. So what have the believers heard from the beginning? We can simply say that they have heard the command to love. You should live a life of love. When you think about the commands of God, I asked you last week how often you think about them, what do you think about them, but what about this central command, this summarizing command, this all-encompassing command, the command to love? How particularly does this sit with you? These believers that John is writing to have been given this central command to love. They should live a life of love. And some people are not comfortable describing the central commandment of Christianity as love. Because rightly so, and I will admit, I don't think it's helpful. I don't think it's helpful to tell a person that you just need to live a life of love and then God will be pleased with you. That's not the point of the command. Just live a life of love and God will be pleased with you. I think first we need to define how a person might receive salvation, how they might experience the love of God themself, and then we need to define what the life looks like what the life of love would actually look like. So we know that we receive salvation by faith or belief in Jesus and repentance from sin. We receive God's grace by believing upon Jesus and His good work and we repent of sin, we turn away our mind is changed and when our mind is changed our actions will ultimately be changed by God's sanctifying grace. We have been saved by faith, repentance, but after we have been saved, then we ought to live a life of love. What does this life of love look like? You saw it there in the Gospel of John, John chapter 13. What did Jesus say? Jesus says, just as I, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. And so, God has given His old commands, they've been throughout the ages, and then these commands are made new as Jesus comes on the scene, as Jesus walks the earth and He obeys the commands perfectly, and as the new covenant is inaugurated and we are enabled to obey these commands and begin to obey, we've been given this measure of spiritual strength, spiritual enablement by the Holy Spirit. And then here we go, we are to live a life of love. Jesus says, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. And that leads us to verses nine through 11. So back in 1 John chapter two, 1 John chapter two, verses nine to 11. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. And what are we getting to with chapter 2, verses 9 through 11? We're getting to the point that if you are in the light with Jesus, then you will love your brother. That's what this is pointing us to. And so the assurance would be that is as we have been enabled to love our brother by God, then we have some assurance that we are in the light with Jesus. But whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness, even though you say that you're in the light. because of the saving work of Jesus even though you say it if you hate your brother we must believe that the scripture is teaching us that we're still in darkness darkness is a state that everyone is in apart from the light of the gospel apart from the state of grace darkness is dead is being dead in sins and trespasses the person in darkness does not have fellowship with all believers or the Father or Jesus Christ, His Son. So we see this straightforward, black and white, simple terms discussion. And then in verse 10, what do we see there? In verse 10 we see, whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause If by grace we are in the light, then by grace we will love our brother. Jesus is in the light, so if a person is in the light, then they have fellowship with Jesus and the person who knows Jesus will not be a cause for stumbling. He will not cause another person to go into error. In general, certainly, that's not going to be the pattern of the Christian's life, to lead people into error. And so, how can we love this way? How can we love the brothers we ought to love? Do we need to hear from 1 John and say, I just need to try really hard? Do I just need to do better and then I can be pleasing to God? Well, first you have to abide in the light. John Gill says that such a man is in the light of grace and continues in it. First you must know the Lord if you want to live this life of love. It is not through this love to the brethren that causes the light. You know, we don't display love and then God puts us in the light. Rather, it is light that causes the love. It is light that causes the love. And so this love that we ought to display for the brethren, the life of love that we ought to live is evidence, John Gill says, that we're in the light. that by which it is known, the cause is known by the effect." So you see the effect. The effect is that we begin to love one another as we ought to. What a beautiful picture from Scripture we see. This phrase, the family of God, has been on my mind. And next week, good Lord willing, as we look to verses 12 through 14, we will meditate upon this idea of the family of God. When you think about the family of God and loving one another in the family of God, I hope that you will be stirred God's grace and his wisdom toward us to put us together in a family. I mean, for the most part, generally speaking, we would say that a person experiences Hopefully they will experience growth and encouragement in the biological family. That's not always the case, but hopefully so. The parents should be nurturing and bringing up the children and thinking about the family of God, the way God has put us together. But God speaks about it here in 1 John 2, verse 10. And he says, whoever loves his brother abides in the light. Have you begun to love the brethren? Then there is evidence that God has given you light. In Him is no cause of stumbling. Have you begun to try to be an influence in a way that pleases God rather than to influence people away from God and towards sin? If so, then this is evidence that God has given you grace. This is good news that the Lord has led us in this way. If we are in the light, then we will love the brethren. What is the cause of this love? We're not going to try today to just do better and just love more, but rather we know it's abiding with the Lord. It's being in the light that enables us to love. And in verse 11, let's conclude by looking at that. 1 John 2, verse 11, whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. So if the hatred is there, if you live a life of hatred toward the brethren, then that's actually walking in darkness. And this person does not know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Habitually hating a brother is evidence that you're walking in darkness. This should concern us. If we have hatred in our heart towards one and it's just over and over and over again, it never stops. We just have this hatred toward the brethren. This should concern us. Well, it should concern us because we're walking in darkness, and walking in darkness means that we're lost, that we don't know where we're going. Spiritual darkness, we're blinded, we have lack of love, and this is sin, for hatred is sin. Every one of us confessing Christians needs to think seriously about this command, the command to love. And out of this section of Scripture, it's love for the brother that's focused upon. The Christian does not live in sin because they are in light. We need to understand the old commands of God. And we need to also understand that we cannot fulfill the old commands of God. So we need to be in the light of Christ. We need to be trusting and depending upon Jesus Christ. Once we have received salvation, once we have believed upon Him, once we have confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord and I have no other help, then we are in the light of Christ and the old commands of God will become new to us. We're new creatures. We now are enabled to live this new life in obedience to God. And it's not a life of obedience, of drudgery. It's not burdensome. You'll see later, I won't get to it, but in chapter 5, the commands of God are not burdensome to us. Rather, God gives us these commands to free us and put us on the right path and in the right direction in a way that pleases him. We're free in Jesus Christ unto righteousness. That's the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ is righteousness, to live in the way that God is pleased. And so then we will be enabled to love our brother all right. And so I do want to Bring your attention to some thoughts. This is what a life of love looks like. And I said it from John chapter 13 verse 34. Let's turn back there. That will be the last scripture that we'll turn to. The Gospel of John chapter 13 verse 34. Just so you see it on the page. I want you to hear it in your ears, but then you will also be able to see it and possibly turn back there. John chapter 13 verse 34, this is what the life of love looks like if you're wrestling with that. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another and here it is, this is what the life of love just, Jesus speaking, just as I have loved you, You also are to love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another. And so as we consider Jesus walking this earth, what did his love look like? Because he says we need to love just like he did. He lived a life of love by speaking the truth. That's one way we can love. Speak the truth to someone. Speak the truth to yourself first and foremost. You know, we always need to be continually serious about the truth for ourselves before we're worried or concerned about the truth for others. Sometimes we get that backwards. We want the other person to be walking in the light. We want the other person to know the truth. But yet then for some reason we're not thinking about the truth as it applies to our own life. But once we consider the log in our own eye then we can look to the other to see the speck in their eye and we can speak the truth to them when they're in error. And that's loving. It is loving. I need all of you to speak the truth to me. and you need all the other brethren to speak the truth to you. This would be a great loving relationship. You know, Jesus also displayed love. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. Jesus met physical needs. If we see a brother in need and we have what they need, And we turn them away and say, well, just come again tomorrow. I mean, we're acting worse than the unbeliever. Jesus met physical needs. It is loving to meet physical needs. I didn't say physical wants. I said physical needs. So it is loving if you see someone who is in need physically. And Jesus certainly did that. What else did Jesus love look like? Because just like Jesus loved his disciples, his disciples are to love one another. Well, Jesus was very patient with the disciples. How many times as we read through the Gospels do we see that their understanding was very weak at times? He says, oh you of little faith at times. They didn't seem to get it. But he was patient nonetheless to continue. He didn't say, get away from me because you don't understand me. Actually, those that were closest to him, he did explain to him. To you has been given the secrets of the kingdom of God. He said to everybody else, it's all in parables. But to you has been given. So I'm going to explain this to you. He was patient with his disciples. Oh, if we're going to love the brethren, then we're going to be patient with the brethren. because Jesus was patient with his disciples. He lived a life of love and that was particularly patient. Jesus also displayed what we say agape or sacrificial love. And what does that mean? That aspect, that word, that means that Jesus preferred the disciples above himself. That's what the sacrificial, preferential love. You prefer another above yourself. Wow, what love is that? We're not doing something to get something out of somebody. We're not doing something for someone because it benefits us. But yet, we're doing something because it benefits them. We see that that person would need this. We see that even though we need to go and we feel like spend our time doing this or that and pursue our own interest, We see that this person has a need that we need to dedicate some time to them, whatever it may be. Encouragement. Ultimately, we know that Jesus' sacrificial love was displayed by his sacrifice of his own body upon the cross. The Christian life is a life of sacrifice. I urge you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Denial of self, love for others, preferential. When we live our life, we're not thinking about, OK, how am I going to do better for David? How is David's situation going to get better? But we look around at the brethren and we say, what do the brethren need? I want to love them. I want to prefer them over myself. This is quite an amazing display of love. And you know that finally, Jesus, when he lived a life of love, he did not hold a grudge. He was forgiving. Jesus did not hold a grudge. I mean, if Jesus wanted to hold a grudge, wouldn't he have held a grudge against Peter? Wouldn't he have chosen Peter as the one to put the grudge upon? The unforgiveness should have been for Peter. But it wasn't. Jesus restored Peter. Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus brought Peter's attention back to love for him and the work that he would do for the Lord. He said, I will use you. You still are ultimately useful in the kingdom. You still are my disciple. Jesus did not hold a grudge. He was forgiving. I don't know about you all, but sometimes it's easy to hold a grudge. It's easy if someone has wronged us to just say, well, I'm done with that person. I will never forget what they did to me, and I will just continue on, try to avoid them, stay away from them. But yet, in the family of God, among believers, we see that love looks like forgiveness toward one another. Be kind to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians chapter 4. And also, this grudge, or Jesus could have held a grudge against Thomas as well. Oh, doubting Thomas. But what did Jesus do? Thomas said, I will not believe unless I see the marks in his hand and the hole in his side. And what did Jesus do? A week later, he came back to him and he said, here, here you go, Thomas, here are the hands, here's the side. He didn't say, you're foolish. You said that you wouldn't believe unless you did this. I'm not going to do that. Jesus said he did for him what was necessary. He didn't hold a grudge against Thomas. No, he revealed himself. He ultimately forgave Thomas. And, you know, where I want to go with this, we can see, we know the clear teaching from 1 John is we must be loving one another. If we're hating one another, there's no evidence that we're Christian. If I walk in hatred toward any one of you, or if you walk in hatred toward me or any other member of the assembly, any of the other brethren, there's no evidence that we're truly converted. This is serious stuff. And the scripture brings us into a position to where we live as we ought to live so that God is glorified and so that we are in the right relationship with one another. What it looks like. So at times the Christian does fail to love their brother. That is true. We know this. At times. Yes, if we say without sin, we lie. The truth is not in us. We do, unfortunately, not love as we ought. What should we do if we are found not loving our brother? We should confess this sin, we should repent of this sin, and we should believe in Jesus. For his sacrifice covers our sin. The sacrifice of his own self, his body was broken. for us, for those that call upon Him, that trust in Him. And I'll just, I guess I'm going back to China in a week and a half, so I don't have to worry about this. But I do want to be serious with you. These scriptures are not something just for a preacher to study and to have something to say on Sunday or Wednesday. These scriptures are not something so that we just have something to say, and, oh, it was a real biblical message, and let's pat one another on the back and go home. For actually, when I ministered out of this scripture in China to the brethren there, it's an evening service. It's actually a night service. It's about past my bedtime, really. But anyways, that's what time they like to meet, late at night. The day that I ministered this passage of scripture, I had to publicly confess my sin toward one of the brothers in the congregation there. I had to confess it publicly because it was public, the sin against him, my impatience and lack of love toward him. That very day at lunch after the morning service, he and I were talking and I was very impatient with him. I mean, he and I talk a lot, but it was sinful. And I had to confess that to him. I had already confessed that to the Lord. I had to ask for his forgiveness, ultimately ask for the Lord's forgiveness, and also confess that I'm believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sin. It is humbling if we take God at His word very seriously. You know, I had been studying that scripture all week, and I certainly hadn't planned to sin against the brother on that Sunday. But in my own... and desire for my own thoughts and words to go forward and my agenda for our relationship, I was very impatient and very unloving to him. And the Lord pierced me that afternoon and forced me to confess. These words change us. If we will take seriously these words and we will live in accordance with these words, our love will be true. Our love will be perfected as we saw last week, the love of God. We will have obedience to the commands of God when we take God at His word. And that's my encouragement to you. God's word says that if we do not love the brethren, then there is not evidence that we know the Lord. So I ask that you meditate upon these things. Let us pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you so much. that you have not left us without a word. Ultimately, the word became flesh, full of grace and truth. We need grace and we need truth. And I pray, Lord, that you would grant those to us, this congregation. May we take your word seriously. May these not just be ordinary words in one ear and out the other, but may they go into our hearts and may they go into our actions. May your word from the Bible be what governs our life truly. I do thank you for this body of believers. Lord, I ask your blessings upon them. Would you bring us further sanctification? Would you bring us, that means, May you bring us to a greater, greater love toward one another. May we love you more and may we love one another more. I plead with you and ask you to do that work among us. And it's through Jesus that I pray it. Amen.