Text: 1 John 2:7-17
INTRODUCTION:
In the Greek language there are four words for our word “love”.
• Eros: This is a sensual or erotic type of love. This word is never used in the New Testament.
• Phileo: This is a brotherly type of love. (Philadelphia is known as the “City of Brotherly Love)
• Storge: Family Love.
• Agape: All encompassing love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
I. THE LAW OF LOVE IS FOUND IN THE OLD & NEW COVENANT ALIKE
1 John 2:7-8
7. 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.
A. The command from God to love Him with all your heart, soul and might is in the OT also.
1. Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
B. The command from God to not avenge but overcome grudges and walk in love is also in the OT.
1. Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
II. GOD “COMMANDS” US TO WALK IN LOVE
1 John 2:9-11
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.
A. God is very clear… If there is hatred in our hearts there is darkness in our hearts.
1. Darkness (hatred) will cause us to stumble.
2. Darkness (hatred) brings confusion.
3. Darkness (hatred) brings blindness.
4. The answer is love. Walking in love is walking in the light! (No more stumbling, confusion or blindness)
B. God not only wants us to walk in love but He wants us to share that love with EVERYONE that we meet!
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 - AMP
1. IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
3. Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.
III. WE CAN DO IT! GOD WILL HELP US…
1 John 2:12-14
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.
A. We love Him because He first loved us.
B. We love others because God first loved us. (We were the “other”)
IV. LOVING GOD AND LOVING OTHERS IS NOT THE SAME AS LOVING THE WORLD…
1 John 2:15-17
15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
A. God tells us to love not the world or the things in it.
1. If we love the world we don’t have the Father’s love in us.
B. God created the world but a lot of the things that are in the world are the results of sin.
1. Lust of the Flesh
2. Lust of the Eyes
3. Pride of Life
4. These things did not come from God but from the world itself…
C. He that doth the will of God abideth forever.
1. The will of God is found in the commandments to “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself! - Matthew 22:34-40 (Read)
CLOSING
