Introduction

Recap:

• Last week Michael served us very well talking about how God is light. He is perfect in everything he does, he’s other, different from everything else in the universe.
• Michael walked us through how John explains that because God is light and he is holy, sinners can’t say that they are in fellowship with him and be living in darkness.
• If God is light than darkness is anything contrary to his Law, his will, his wants, or his commands.
• Because of this we are to walk in the light, and we are to confess our sin.
• The text today carries on this idea of light and

Key ideas introduced in this text:

Today’s text affords me an opportunity to encourage you by specifically looking at Jesus as an advocate to sinners, His sacrifice as a covering for sin, and how that knowledge empowers us to live the way he asks us to.

Jesus Atonement for Sinners:

• Michael served us really well last week by explaining how we as sinners are in need of salvation and calling sinners to repentance, but this text introduces us to two very special aspects of Jesus work and we’re going to dig into these in more detail.

Our Series is called: “That you may know”

• Today for the first time in this letter we encounter the word know.
• What does John mean that we can know, we know God?

Love is introduced:

• This letter of John’s has a strong emphasis on “love”. It comes up repeatedly throughout the letter.
• We see it introduced today in two contexts.

God’s Commandment:

• “Commandment” is the dominant feature of this portion of the text—it’s where we’ll spend a good deal of time talking about the Commandment.

The way that John wrote this letter:

• Three weeks ago, John McLeod explained the author of this letter doesn’t communicate linearly.
• He reiterates his ideas with a sort of a spiraling, looping, repetition. He starts an idea, describes, elaborates, subtly introduces a new topic and then loops around to draw it out while still building on the main point he began with.
• This is to draw attention to the one important truth that culminates in chapter 5
  • “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (5:13)
• What I say today builds on what Michael has said and sets the table for John to build next week.
• Let the reiteration of these ideas truly settle into you and establish in you that you can know that you have eternal life.

Main Idea:

• I think the main message of this portion of the text could be summarized and applied to our lives like this:

“Little Children, there is mercy for sinners, so walk in the footprints of Jesus and love one another.”

- I hope this message today will encourage you not to sin,

- but that when you do sin that I will equip you to remind yourself that there is hope,

- and that this hope will encourage you to keep going, demonstrating your hope through love for God and his people.

- It has certainly served me this way.

Personal Appeal:

• I have a sensitive spirit.
• Often when I read Scripture and I hear the depravity of man, I can attach myself to those sins. They stick to me like cat hair on wool socks in the winter.
• I read about the holiness of God and I wonder how I’m still alive. How am I not burned up by God’s holy, unapproachable light?
• Sometimes when I read the Psalms and hear how it’s the righteous that are able to come to the Lord’s holy mountain I am undone. I’m not righteous. I’m so, so far from being able to approach God’s throne. I constantly feel the weight of my sin.
• Maybe this is how you feel sometimes. Maybe this is how you feel often. If you don’t feel this way now, maybe you can still relate to it.
• This feeling is a gift from the Lord. It is his Spirit, changing our hearts and helping us to see that we need help, and hopefully it makes us desperate.
• The sermon today is for people who struggle with their sin.
• We are going to unpack how God deals with sinners.
• We’re going to describe how you can “know” that your sin is removed and how you’ve been covered and protected from the Wrath of God, by a propitiation, and righteous advocate.
• We’re going to demonstrate how you can determine if this propitiation is for you, and if it is applied to you.

Connecting to the Big Picture:

My little children

• John’s audience was a church, specifically believers who stayed.
• This is a comforting address—John is confident in their belief.
• As clear as any passage about the audience—he’s talking to you, to us!
• John wrote to reassure believers of their confidence after a massive falling out.
• False teachers, going out because they were not of us.
• Confidence is shaken because they thought they were in fellowship—turns out they weren’t.

Questions for us:

• Can I be certain I know God when these people I thought knew him well turn out to reject him?
• How do I treat someone like that?
• When I sin, does that jeopardize my salvation?
• How do I know that I know, that I know?

Three Main Points:

• There is Hope for Sinners
• Saints want to keep the commands
• The Commandment is to love

1—There is Hope for Sinners (vs 1-2)

“¹My little children, I am 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. ² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.^[1]”

We’re all sinners (v8-10; 1-2)

• Now remember, verses weren’t added to the bible until the 1400-1500, maybe a little before in other language translations.
• Vs1-2 I believe, and most commentators agree, belong with Vs 5-10.
• John doesn’t linger long here, but he makes some very emphatic statements, consistent with what we see in other parts of scripture.
  • John says: “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth isn’t in us.”
• This is consistent with other passages of scripture:
  • Rom 3:9-12—“…we have already charged that all, both Jew and Greeks and under sin…there is no one righteous, not even one…” (Quoting Ps 14)
  • Rom 3:23 — “…all have sinned and fallen short….”
  • Rom 5:12—“…death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
• There is no escaping the reality that we are sinners.
• Some people in this church came along and flipped the script.
• John is remind them—no, no, if you can’t confess that you are a sinner—you aren’t walking in the light.
• If we start exploring ways to justify our immorality, and defining actions against his Law as something other than what God calls it, we must repent.
• So this is the stage that John is setting, but it’s not the main point; it’s leading to something.

Sinners have an Advocate (v1)

My little children…

• John was confident in their belief. He’s writing to comfort them.

So you won’t sin, but if you do…

• As a continuation of his thought John reminds them of the good new!
• We have an advocate with the Father: He’s in the presence of the Father. He’s the same substance and glory and has been given all authority by the Father to judge and forgive sin.

An Advocate

• “Roman advocate pleads always before learned judges, so he cannot appeal to the passions or indulge in theatrical displays of eloquence, as if he had to deal with a jury. His language is expected to be sober and refined, clear and precise.”
• The word here is parakletos; used only 5 times in the NT, 4 times in John’s gospel to describe the Spirit, and once here- to describe Christ himself.
• He is the righteous, he acted righteously and now he speaks on behalf of the accused as a friend or patron.
• His name is Jesus – he name means “Yahweh saves” : “Because he will save his people from their sin!” (Matt 1:21)
• He’s an advocate who experienced our suffering, from a place of personal experience.
  • Heb 2:17-18—"Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. ^[2]”

“…the language of advocacy and sacrifice appears to place Jesus over against God as if God had to be persuaded by a third party to forgive us….(as if) presenting God as an unwilling judge from whom forgiveness has to be wrested by the advocate for sinners. Already in 1:9 John emphasize that it is God himself who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins….”

 – Howard Marshall (Epistles of John)

• John 3:16 for goodness’ sake: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…”

The Advocate Propitiates (v2)

• However, Jesus is more than a righteous helper, speaking on our behalf.
• He is the Christ- the anointed, promised and prophesied Messiah. The blessing to all families of the earth.
• He is himself the propitiation.

Propitiation vs Expiation

• Propitiation vs expiation (Kruse p.75 & 76)
• There is some debate between the meaning of the original word that has been translated “propitiation” here.
• “Hilasmos” — “means of appeasing; atonement” also “sin offering; expiation”
  • “Expiation” – “…removal of guilt and the purifying of the sinner, or…”
  • “Propitiation” – “…the appeasing of God’s anger towards sinners, or God’s action offering propitiation to humanity.”

Jesus propitiates...

• Used to be that people would try to appease the “old gods” by trying to do nice or good things for them.
• He’s not such a puny, fickle god as to be placated with a meer token gesture of obedience, no matter how genuine or contrite the heart. His holiness demands the perfect and total annihilation of sin and his wrath towards sin is perfect.
• That isn’t possible with the Yahweh—the Ancient of Days. We have nothing to offer that would satisfy our sin.
• Isaiah 64::6—" We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. ^[3]”
• We are so thoroughly infested with sin that we would cease to exist in his presence without his mercy .
• This is why Vs 2 is such an amazing and hopeful verse. “if you sin, we have an advocate, who is the propitiation for our sin.”

Jesus didn’t just advocate for us, he didn’t just suffer as a man so that he could minister from experience, he himself was the sacrifice on our behalf, taking the fully satisfying the wrath of God.”

A picuter of the covering from wrath...

• Gen 6:14 — “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ^[4]”

The Ark – A propitiation

Jesus expiates…

• Rom 3:21-31— “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.^[5]”
• 2 Cor 5:21 – “God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• Heb 9:11-28 10 —“… he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
• Heb 10:10-14 — “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified¹”
• All of this supports what John says in 1:9 that, “…he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“The judge, who has been judged for us, stands before the Judge for us, claiming the efficacy of His self-imposed judgment as the remedy for all our transgressions.^[6]” – John D. Hannah

What I think we see in V2 is that “propitiation” represents both the cleansing and forgiveness of the sinner, and the turning away of God’s anger. It represents both.

For whom does the Advocate Propitiate? (v2)

The Church

• The church: all the verses previous, especially 2:1 cause us to clearly see that he is addressing Christians. So he is certainly the propitiation for those who believe.

The World…

The Elephant in the Room…

• This verse has the potential to be a point of contention between “the little children”—brothers and sisters in the church today.
• The pastors, as well as most members at Cornerstone hold to a Reformed soteriology—meaning the way of salvation.
• Coming from the Calvinist tradition we believe that the whole counsel of Scripture teaches that according to God’s perfect will for his ultimate glory, God has predestined “the elect” to eternal life with the Lord, and the “reprobate” to eternal death.
• Here’s what Calvin himself says in his commentary on this text describing what he thinks John means:

“I pass by the dotages of the fanatics, who under this extend salvation to all the reprobate, and there to Satan himself. Such a monstrous thing deserves no refutation. They who seek to avoid this absurdity, have said that Christ suffered sufficiently for the whole world, but efficiently only for the elect. This solution has commonly prevailed in the schools.” – John Calvin Commentaries on the First Epistle of John

Not the Point?

• He goes on to say that he believe this “whole” or “all” to be referring to the believers in the whole world.
• I’m not one to disagree with one of the fathers of the Reformation; however, I don’t believe this text is focused on defending a Calvinistic soteriology, nor those who of the Unlimited Atonement dispensation. Though it is sometimes used as such. That isn’t John’s point.
• I do want to unpack it a bit so that we understand what John is getting at, and the implications it has for us!

Not Universalism

• First of all, what it doesn’t mean:
• It certainly can’t mean that all the sins of all people in the world are automatically forgiven. That is Universalism (not to be confused with Universal Atonement) and in chapter 5:12 of this letter, among other places, John says that, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
• To have the son means to accept him as the propitiation for one’s sin and trust him to advocate for himself to the Father.
• So it can’t mean everyone is saved.

Universal vs Limited Atonement

• What does John say in other of his works and instruction to the church, that may bring clarity to his intentions here?
  • John 3:16, “…For God so loved the world…”
  • This text
  • 1 John 4:14, “…the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
• These passages seem clear that the God has intentions to save everyone, everywhere, from all time.
• However, we have other passages from John’s work—even from Jesus himself:
  • John 1:12-13 — “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ^[7]”
  • John himself recorded Jesus’ words to Nicodemus says that the Spirit blows where “he wishes” (John 3:8)—“ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”^[8]
• In his High priestly prayer, Jesus prays:
  • John 17:6 — I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ^[9]
  • Vs 9 — I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ^[10]
  • Vs 21— “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
• In addition to these passages John Colin Kruse describes that the same word for world appears 23 times in this is passage, with many different applications:

“The word ‘kosmos’ occurs 23 times in 1 John and it’s meaning varies according to context;…natural world…locatives sense… ‘worldly values’, unbelieving world—people who are opposed to God and believers and who are under the power of the evil one”

“It’s not easy to explain what the author means by saying that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice; for the sins of the whole world’.” —Colin G Kruse; The Letters of John, Pillar NT Commentary

My Conclusion:

• My take on thisis similar to Calvin’s own statement; though I appreciate Kruse’s wording:

“We might suggest that Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world because his death was sufficient to deal with the sins of the whole world, but that his sacrifice does not become effective until people believe in him.” —Colin G Kruse; The Letters of John, Pillar NT Commentary

• I take it this way because, as I’ve already pointed out, John is directly speaking to believers throughout this letter. This statement doesn’t make sense to me if we take Calvin’s explanation that it’s for believer’s in the whole world, when it seems to be expanding that subject.

It makes sense to me that John is reminding his “little children” that there is only one propitiation suitable for mankind—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

• To conclude on the question of this within the Limited vs Unlimited Atonement debate, (at least for this sermon) I think John’s words and what he’s conveying to the “the little children” is this:
• John 3:17-21—"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 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 the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”^[11]

Those who left the church, first causing this whole fuss, can’t be saved by any other means—neither can they who remain, so don’t follow the false teachers, the decenters, because as Peter said in Acts 4:12, “there is no other name under heaven given by which man must be saved”.

Application:

• This is the best news guys!
• The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit planned in himself that Jesus would be the propitiation for Sinners.
• Jesus advocates, as an experienced, righteous, helper who has offered himself for us.

I don’t want you to sin, but if you do fall to temptation, you are not undone. Go to Jesus, confess your sin and he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you!

• When you see yourself in the sin described in Scripture don’t attach yourself to it—remind yourself that you have an advocate who precisely and technically pleads your case with his own blood to cleanse your sin and protect you from wrath! Confess to him and walk in his commandments!

Transition

2—Saints want to keep the commandments (Vs 3-6)

^“3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.^[12]”

What does it mean to know.

• It’s a pretty common thing to hear a parent give a bit of instruction or make an observation only to hear the child declare, “I know!”. What does that even mean?!
• My kids never “know” when they say that.

What is John encouraging them to know?

• Their salvation is sure—they know the Lord.

“Knowing” vs “Feeling”

• John doesn’t say, you can “feel” like you’re saved. He doesn’t say how you can “guess” or “ hope”. He says how you can KNOW!
• He also doesn’t say “If you keep my commandments, you’ll be saved”. That’s works based righteousness. That’s no better than any other false god out there.
• He says “by the fact that you obey God, you can know that you belong to him.”

Illustration: Obeying is like changing for the other person.

• When you meet someone new that you want their approval—you change.
• Some of want others approval so bad that they will completely reinvent themselves just to be noticed.
• In a healthy way we start caring about the things that they care about. In a dating or marriage relationship you learn all you can about a person and then you begin to change what you care about, or how you act.

The Love of God perfected in you

• John 8:31-36— “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” ^[13]
• In 1 John 2:19— “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. ^[14]”
• Abiding in the word means obeying the commandments of the Word. If you don’t obey the commandments, it is clear that the “love of God” – His love towards you, is not perfected.
• When we grasp his love, his holiness, his light and we are drawn to his light and given access through Jesus propitiation—we are compelled to follow him.
• Again, walking in Jesus footsteps takes practice.

Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Heb 5:8)

• He’s an example to us of how someone who loves the Father submits to them.
• He loved the Father so much he obeyed him even to death.
• This is the way Jesus walked. This is how we ought to walk.
• Love the Lord your God with all your….

Its God Who Works

• Phil 1:6 – “He who began a good work, will bring it to completion…”

• Phil 2:12-13—"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.^[15]”

Don’t be Mistaken…

• The love of God for you is not for your obedience to his commandments.
• Some people think that because they fulfill some level of God’s desire, that it will allow them favor with him. Their good works are bigger or more significant than their bad deeds, thoughts, and words. This is a lie!
• You, we, have no credit with God—only debt.
• But Jesus offers us protection under his obedience.

Walk in Jesus footprints

• If a small child is trying to walk in the steps of his father in the sand, there will be times when they overstep or “break edge” (step outside the lines), and times when there is something so tempting off the line that they are overcome and leave the steps to collect the shiny shell.
• This is very different than deliberately running around and stepping anywhere other than the footprints of the father.
• Sometimes even the most wayward child may cross the steps of the dad, perfectly landing in them—that doesn’t mean they are save as they aren’t walking in the steps.

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Transition

Love your neighbor as yourself…

3—The Commandment is to love (Vs 7-11)

^“7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.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.⁹ Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.¹¹ 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. ^[16]”

What is the Commandment?

• Interesting here that John is telling them to keep “the commandment”. Which commandment is “the” commandment.
• In the Synoptic gospels these is an encounter with a Scribe (a lawyer), who asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment.
• Matt 22:37-41—"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” ^[17]”
• It’s a significant question as it’s a Scribe—someone who should know the answer to that questions.
• Jesus takes the opportunity to build on the Shema from Deut. 6:5 and say that Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.
• So here is “the” commandment, but this is old—and probably the most significant. So what does John mean when he says, “actually, it is new”.
• After Judas left the upper room, to betray Jesus to the Pharisees, Jesus gave a new commandment.
• John 13:33-25 —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.” ^[18]”
• Is this a new commandment though? John tells us that it isn’t a new commandment, but an old one, but it is new?
• What does John mean?

It is an old command with new clarity, new meaning, new application in the light of Christ.

This love can’t be faked

• This isn’t a “fake it, ‘til you make it” situation.
• As we know from this letter and from 2^nd and 3^rd John—people went out from the church who were thought to belong.
• They couldn’t stay, because they didn’t agree.
• Michael quote Cicero on this last week.
• Eventually the act will be unsustainable.

Not the typical exit from church

• We’re not talking about the kind of situation that we may commonly see people leave our church, or even come to our church (because they left somewhere else).
• Our common situation is related to practical needs or desires of the season of life.
• People move, kids grow, shifts in schooling, or just “it was time for a change”.
• The situation for the church John was writing to was much more difficult—people they called brother and sister and had “all things in common with” decided that Jesus wasn’t really the Christ.

PASTORAL COMMENT: Responding to this in the church.

• Many here have experienced this with families and friends.
• When this happens there is confusion and hurt, disappointment. Our worlds get rocked when this happens.
• Yet the key identifier of their apostacy is that they are not walking in his ways. They aren’t honoring his law or keeping his commandment.
• This isn’t always overt or obvious rebellion—most of the time it’s a long and slow process, what we may observe as a spiritual atrophy.
• They struggle to love the brethren, because they themselves aren’t walking in the light.
• For our actions toward them, we continue to demonstrate love and grace, patience and goodwill towards them. This is another evidence of our walking in the light—when we can still demonstrate love toward them even when they don’t love us.

“Don’t talk about it, be about it”

• My brother uses this phrase a lot.
• He and Caela are also wonderful examples of the most basic application of this brotherly love.
• Be intentional with loving your brother.

Christian Fellowship…

• Have people into your home.
• Homegroups are on a break for the Summer.
• Invite people over—invite yourself to their house. You have my permission.
• Create opportunities to build meaningful, vulnerable and sanctifying friendships with people.
• This isn’t just about finding your bosom friend—but investing in the lives of the people who are the most valuable to Jesus and the Father.
• The way we love the brotherhood, demonstrated to us through the Acts and the epistles is radical.
• It isn’t radical in every way—in that the lost will love their people too.
• But it is radical in how it gets carried out.
  • Jews were to love Gentiles
  • Liberals should love conservatives
• How do we do this?

One anothers…

• 60 times in the new testament
• “bear with”, “exhort”, “build up”, “love”, “forgive”…

Opportunities to love the brothers…RADICAL!!

• Selling your possessions and giving to those in need
  • Caring for the widow & the Orphan
  • Caring for the refugee and sojourner
• The history of hospitals, orphanages, schools came from the church carrying out the radical love of God, one another and neighbor that we see in Scripture.
• Today, those institutions have been conceded to government agencies and non-profits. Many of which are faith-based and we are grateful for that. But on their front, they are capitalist machines that are often disassociated with the people of God.
• Organizations like Samaritans Ministries health sharing, MediShare, or Safe Families for Children, Hand of Hope or Gateway, are overtly Christian organizations that allow us to carry out “the commandment”.
• I’m not saying that you must use these services—only that they are examples of ways we can.
• We have a number of needs in our church that we distribute alms to each month. Only recently has the amount we gave out exceeded the amount we take in for that explicit purpose.
  • Not making all you can
  • Being generous
  • Ananias & Saphira: this isn’t about popularity
• How about being radically vulnerable with people.

Church discipline…

• This is radical! This is culture shifting—to us counter cultural
• We pursue our offenders with forgiveness and reproof. We pursue them because they are our brothers—until proven otherwise.
• Because the same righteous advocate who atones for us and helps us, is their hope of propitiation—is the only advocate available to them!
• But we also won’t tolerate sin that is left unrepentant.

No cause for stumbling…

• If we love the body of Christ, John says that there is no cause for stumbling.
• It’s important here that again we clarify, that this isn’t about emotion. We don’t always “feel” like loving the brothers.
• It’s hard work, and in the times that it’s most needed its often most inconvenient. Yet, we are compelled by a love, a commitment, a bond deeper than our emotions, deeper than the inconveniences.
• “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for his sheep.”
• Laying down our life for the sheep means that you are giving up your wants, desires, pursuits when it’s called for to build up, and care for the body of Christ.
• But if this is your default—your conviction—there is no cause for stumbling in you.
• If you don’t have this conviction then it seems like a good place to start talking to your advocate. Appealing for the perfect love of God by obeying the commandments to love the brothers.

Conclusion 

“Little Children, there is mercy for sinners, so walk in the footprints of Jesus and love one another.”

Three Main Points:

• There is Hope for Sinners
• Saints want to keep the commands
• The Commandment is to love

1. I hope this message today will encourage you not to sin—keep the commands of the person who loves you so much he died for you!

2. but that when you do sin that I will equip you to remind yourself that there is hope—There is hope. Don’t keep yourself away from God because of a struggle with sin; let it draw you to him as your advocate.

3. and that this hope will encourage you to keep going, demonstrating your hope through love for God and his people—step outside your comfort zone. Love these people who Jesus loves so much he died for them.

4. Demonstrate the love of God to the world by how well we care for one another—make radical decisions to see the perfect love of God in your life. Benefit from knowing that you know him!

Benediction

Heb 13:20-21