1 John 2:3-11

LOVING THE BROTHERS

SONGS WE SANG…
This little light of _______, I’m gonna let it
_________.
Thank you Lord for saving my _________.
Thank you Lord for making me ___________.
Thank you Lord for giving to me,
Thy great ____________ so rich and free.
We are one in the _______, we are one in the
______,
We are one in the _______, we are one in the
______.
And we pray that all ________ may one day be
restored.
1 JOHN 2:3-11: THE THEME

Yes
Yesthey’ll
we’ll know
knowwe
we
are Christians by our
love…
3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS

1. They had already left the church.

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.
3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS
2. They were spreading false doctrine that
the Christ did not fully come in the flesh.
1 John 4:1-3:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God, for
many false prophets have gone out into the
world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that
does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is
the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was
3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS

3. These false teachers were still trying to

harass the local church and upset its
members, thus the reason that John
wrote the book.
3 CLAIMS FROM THE FALSE TEACHERS

In today’s passage, John specifically mentions

three claims these false brethren were
making:

1. Whoever says “I know him” (2:4)

2. Whoever says he “abides in Him”
(2:6)
3. Whoever says he is “in the light”
(2:9)
WHAT’S BEEN DISCUSSED SO FAR:

1:1-4 1:5-2:2
Addresses the
Addresses the
nature of
solution for sin
Jesus

John bears witness to the This Jesus Christ is the

fact that he saw and heard answer to our sin problem,
and even touched the both the once-for-all
Savior, Jesus Christ, and Sacrifice and the ongoing
He is the source of eternal Advocate on our behalf
life
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Assurance of salvation -- 1 John 5:11-13:

And this is the testimony, that God gave

us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever
does not have the Son of God does not
have life. 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.
 1 JOHN 2:3-11 – THE OUTLINE

1. True Christians who believe in Jesus seek

to live like Him. (2:3-6)
2. This is both an “old” truth that they
already know, and it is a “new” truth that
they are continuing to learn (2:7-8)
3. No one can claim to know Christ and still
hate his brother (2:9-11)
 1 JOHN 2:3-6
1. True Christians who believe in Jesus seek to live like
Him. (2:3-6)

And by this we know that we have come to know

him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever
says “I know him” but does not keep his
commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in
him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the
love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure
that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him
ought to walk in the same way in which he
WHAT COMMANDMENTS?
And this is his commandment, that we believe in
the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one
another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever
keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in
them. 1 John 3:23

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.
John 13:34-35
WHAT COMMANDMENTS?
And one of them, a lawyer, 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 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.” Matthew 22:35-41
 1 JOHN 2:7-8
2. This is both an “old” truth that they already
know, and it is a “new” truth that they are
continuing to learn.

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. 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.
KNOWING AND LEARNING

In what sense can we

already “know”
something, and yet still
be continuing to learn it?
 1 JOHN 2:9-11
3. No one can claim to know Christ and yet hate
his brother

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
THEMES IN JOHN’S WRITINGS

Love = Light

Darkne
Hatred =
ss
JOHN MAKES IT CLEAR:
1 John 3:14: We know that we have passed
out of death into life, because we love the
brothers. Whoever does not love abides in
death. Everyone who hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 4:20: If anyone says, “I love God,” and

hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen cannot
HATING A BROTHER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:
Leviticus 19:17: You shall not hate your
brother in your heart, but you shall reason
frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin
because of him.

Deuteronomy 19:11-12: But if anyone hates

his neighbor and lies in wait for him and
attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he
dies, and he flees into one of these cities,
then the elders of his city shall send and
CHRISTIAN CONFLICTS IN THE NT
Ephesians 4:31-32:
Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be
put away from you, along with all
malice. Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God in Christ forgave
you.
MEANT TO MAKE HARMONY
DON’T MISS THIS:

We are much better

together, than apart,
and that’s how God
intended it to work.
SO HOW CAN WE LOVE THE BROTHERS?

But if anyone has the world's

goods and sees his brother in
need, yet closes his heart
against him, how does God's
love abide in him? 1 John 3:17
BRENTON MANNING, THE RAGAMUFFIN GOSPEL

The greatest single cause of

atheism in the world today is
Christians: who acknowledge
Jesus with their lips, walk out the
door, and deny Him by their
lifestyle. That is what an
unbelieving world simply finds
unbelievable.
WE SANG IT WHEN WE WERE KIDS:

“They’ll know we are

Christians by our love.”

And John says, if we love

our brothers and sisters,
we’ll know we are
1 John 2:3-11

LOVING THE BROTHERS