And we're turning to chapter two, chapter two. Let's hear the Lord's word. We'll begin at verse one and we'll go right down to verse 17. My little children, these things right eye onto you that you said not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought also himself so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word at which ye have heard from the beginning. 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. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 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. 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. 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. 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. and the world pass of the way and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Amen. May the Lord bless his word to each heart this afternoon. Our Bible reading again to second John, or sorry, first John and chapter two. My hope over these Sunday afternoons when we're ministering the Lord's Word is to give you an overview of this book of 1 John. And I think you can understand that any preacher that attempts to try and preach a whole chapter of 1 John in one meeting is really biting off more than he could ever chew. But it's not my intent to get into every little verse and every little detail. It's more of a bird's eye view and of the master plan of the book. And I must confess that for many years, the book of 1 John has been a bit of a spiritual maze to me, because it's like going around in circles and you see very good things here and very good and very good and more good, but how do you work this out as a message? And it wasn't until a number of years ago after I had retired that I decided I'm going to try and grasp what 1 John is all about and try and understand it. And I must say it became a tremendous blessing to me And I have been able to preach much of this in many places, and I truly felt that it was the Lord's burden and will for me to bring these messages again here in Locke to you. And I hope that we together can get as far as possible, chapter by chapter, on these Sunday afternoons. Now, last week we learned that the key word, really, not just to chapter one, but to the whole book, is that word in 1 John 1 verse 3, where it talks about fellowship and It is the purpose of John writing that ye may have fellowship. And our fellowship is with the father and with his son. And we learned that that word for fellowship is koinonia. And it means much more than just a chat. It means much more than just friendship, general friendship. It means a partnership. It means to be totally in union and in partnership with the Father and with the Son. Now that seems too fantastic, but the Bible speaks of it in other ways. It speaks about being a fellow heir with the Lord Jesus, a joint heir, and you'll read of that in John 8. Then you have the description in John chapter 15 where we are the branch and the Lord Jesus is the vine. Another illustration would be the candlestick where you have the menorah. And there is a shaft that goes up from the bottom right up to the top level, and that is Christ. And out of the shaft, there come three branches on each side. So you have the seven candlesticks on the menorah. The candlestick, and it is a union with the Lord Jesus. Now when that candlestick was made and first formed, it was beat out of one solid lump of gold. Can you imagine doing that? Somebody giving you a big chalk chunk of gold and say, beat that into shape and make a menorah out of it. Well, that's what the craftsmen did. And it was meant to illustrate that a Christian is in union with the Lord Jesus. There's no separation. There's no joints. There's no welding. There's no parts to it. We are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, I know that for our puny minds, that is hard to grasp. And sometimes in the lonely walk of the Christian life, you may not feel that. But when you come to worship and when you come to pray, you must not do so as an outsider. You must do so as one who is in union and in partnership with the Lord Jesus. Now, chapter one we learned is, how can this be? And we learned three things. It's through the revelation of the sun, the revelation that God is light, and the revelation of the blood, the blood that cleanseth and cleanseth and cleanseth. And that's the how. And even though we are sons and daughters of Adam, even though we are sinners by nature and rebels to God, in salvation, we are brought into this wonderful partnership with God. And Baha is chapter one. Chapter two is what happens. What happens when you're made a partner with God? What happens when you are in union with the Lord? And as we go down this chapter, there are 10 things, 10 things that happens when you are made a partner with Christ, when you are born again, or when you know God in heart. Now, these are not my points today. I'm not going to preach 10 things. We're going to just list these 10 things, and I'll do that very, very quickly. The first one is verse 1, 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, and what happens is we get a new hatred for sin. And if we send these things right on to you that you sin not. And here is the Christians new position. I don't want to sin. I hate sin. I know what sin did to my Lord Jesus on the cross. And while I'm in a fallen world and I'm not perfect, my heart's desire as a Christian now is I don't want to sin. Keep me from sinning. And that's the new attitude, a new hatred for sin. Then in verse three, you get a new love for God's word. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. And so there is a new relationship now between you and the Bible. That's one of the great wonders of the new birth. The Bible becomes a new book. and you become a lover of the Bible, God's word. Verse eight, number three, verse eight, you get a new walk in the light. And it tells us again, a new commandment I write onto you and which thing is true in him and of you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. And so you are now walking in the light. no longer walking in the darkness of sin and your own rebellious ways. You've got a new walk. So you've got a new hatred for sin, a new love for God's word, and you walk in the light. And then verse nine, you have a new love for fellow Christians. It says, he that is in the light and hated his brother is in darkness until now. So The opposite to hating your brother is loving him. And the apostle John was very much encouraging the love of the brethren. It was the 11th commandment that Jesus had given. And John had a great testimony of being an apostle with a pastor's heart. And he went to the meetings, even as an old man. And he would have, to those who carried him into the meetings, he would have said, my little children, Love one another. And here's what we see here. A new love for fellow Christians. That's verse nine, right down to verse 11. And then in verse 12, you have a new liberty in Jesus name. I write on to you little children because your sins are forgiven you. Oh, that's a tremendous liberty. What a blessing to know that your sins are forgiven. In our church in Vancouver area, we had a membership form that people had to fill in. And one of the questions was, do you have the assurance of sins forgiven? And Christ's church is made up of people who enjoy that liberty. And John points that out right here. We move on now to verse 13, and we see that this born-again Christian, this person in partnership, has a new victory. Firstly, over Satan. 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. There is a blessed victory. And then verse 15 to 17, Victory over the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The world passeth away. And so a Christian has a new attitude to the world. It's materialism, it's money, it's fame, it's fortune, it's lust. The Christian now is flowing against the tide. And the world would carry you downstream into the gutter, But the Christian is now flowing against the world. We are no longer loving the world, but seeking to overcome it, and we get a new victory. The seventh one is verse 18, and that is a new loyalty. Little children, it is the last time. And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time. And then it goes on to talk about those who went out from us because they were not of us. And how often that has happened in churches. People who said, I don't like this ministry against sin and against the world and the devil. And they go out because they don't have a loyalty to the Lord. But true Christians who are born of the Spirit have a loyalty and they take delight in the very truth and standing up for it. Verse 20 is a new understanding, but ye have an unction from the Holy One and Ye know all things, an unction. Now, Christians are not walking encyclopedias. We don't know all things. I'm not a scientist. I'm not an engineer. I'm not a medical person. There's an awful lot of things I just don't know. But when it comes to truth and error, the Christian is given a discernment. And we are what the Bible calls spirit taught. We are given to know the truth and the error. Things we know are not right. And we have an insight. God, by his spirit, bears witness with our spirit. And he shows us when things are not right. And we have a new understanding. The ninth thing that happens, verse 24, is a new abiding in the sun. And it says, let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. And this is a wonderful thing to be abiding in the sun. Now that's almost like going back to John 15 again. where it talks about the branches abiding in the vine. And that is powerful, isn't it? Wonderful picture of the Christian life, the branch abiding in the vine. And that's where we get our spiritual life and strength, our spiritual food. We draw everything from Christ. Everything we enjoy, we redraw from the Lord Jesus. And here in this chapter, you see that set out. Now finally, number 10, we're going to verse 29 now, the last verse in the chapter, and you will see there's a new test of the new birth, that you do righteousness. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. If someone says, I want to have my sin and the way of the world, and I know God is holy, but I don't care, you can say that person is not saved. That person is not right with God. And so this is a test. And if you're here today with a burden for holiness, a burden to walk with God, a burden to do what's right in your life, because God is always right, then those are the marks. of the new birth, and that's a test that we are born of God. So those are the 10 things that we have here in 1 John 2. What happens when you're born again, when you're made a partner with the Lord and you are a joint heir with him? Now, did you notice something that all of these things are radical? They are life changing. Salvation is no small thing. It's not just a little tweak of our nature. It is a total turning upside down of what we used to be. We used to love sin, now we hate it. We used to walk with the world, now we flee from the world. There's a radical, radical change when you are born again, when you become a true Christian. And the Bible says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things pass away. Behold, all things become new. Now, that sort of feels like a sermon on its own, and I Well, I can't apologize. I need to just explain. I felt it was necessary to go through the chapter and just see where John is going with this and the radical nature of being a Christian. What I want to do in the remaining time, and I don't want to go away past the time really, but we'll try and lay out Why conversion is so radical? That it is not some little thing, but it is a mighty change. And conversion to Christ, firstly, is my first point. Conversion to Christ is radical because converts are made to know God in their hearts. in their hearts experientially. Now, that's a long statement. I'll say it again. Conversion to Christ is radical because converts are made to know God in their hearts experientially. Now, a repeated word in this book and in this chapter two is the word no, K-N-O-W. And this knowledge of God is to know God in heart. It is to know, not just as an observer. I think I talked last week about somebody looking in the window, looking in from the outside. And they may know there's a meeting going on, there's people sitting there, there's a man in the pulpit, but they have no idea what the meeting's about. They can't enter into the experience of the message or the Lord himself because they're on the outside. Now, this word, no, here in 1 John 2 is not that word. It is to know in heart, you experience and you know God. Now, if you look at verse four in chapter two, it says, he that says I know him, that means no God in heart and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. So you can see that John is insisting that anyone that knows God will speak the truth, love the truth and stand up for the Lord. Verse five, Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. We know it, but we know it in our hearts, not just in our heads, not just as an observer, but we know it because we've experienced it in our own souls. And then in verse 13, you'll see that word no again. I write unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning. And so every true born again Christian knows God. You can't be ignorant of God and claim to be a Christian. You know him. And this is why conversion is so radical. You have been introduced to the true and living God and you have a walk with him and you are in agreement with him and you are living for him. And of course, this now is the rule of life. And we love his word. We love his commandments. John deals with that in this chapter as well. And the Ten Commandments become now the bedrock of our Christian living. The Ten Commandments are our rule of life. They teach us what it is to please our God and our Heavenly Father. And they are rules that we are to keep all the days of our life, and we love it. They're not grievous to us. They're not annoying to us. We delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man. You remember the psalmist in Psalm 11, he said that in the law of the Lord do I delight day and night. That's the new nature. Now, the ungodly are not so. They are shirkers. They want to be out from under God's word and God's law. because they need to be changed. So conversion is radical because we now know God. And if you can say that today, then you have a participation, you have union with the Lord Jesus, and you have wonderful participation with him. Second thing, conversion to Christ is radical because God converts souls through the power of his word. Now, the Bible has been likened to dynamite. It is the power of our salvation and of our own soul as we walk with God. Now, I want you to see John's logic in chapter two, verse three, where he says, hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. And we of course could debate over the scope of this statement about God's commandments, but certainly the bottom line is that it's the 10 commandments. That's the summary of the law of God for the Christian. Now, why is this? Why is it that we have such now a new loyalty to the word and such a delight in it? Well, first Peter, Chapter 123 teaches us that we are born again by the word, by the word. Let's go to 1 Peter 1.23, being born again. And there's the very word right there for you. This is exactly what we're talking about, being born again. not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Now, every evangelist, every person who goes preaching the gospel uses the Bible. You can't preach the gospel without the Bible. A people who have never been introduced to the Bible will never be saved because God, by his spirit, uses his word. to regenerate, to give the new birth, and to bring them to a true knowledge of God. And this word is born in the heart. It's like seed. In fact, that's the term that is used here in this very verse, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of that seed of the word of God. And then verse 25, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And so in the miracle of our new birth, the miracle of our regeneration, there is the process of the Holy Spirit working this word into our hearts. And Paul likened it to the law written on the fleshy tables of our hearts. It's like a surgeon putting us on the table, and the anesthetist puts us to sleep, and the surgeon opens us up and takes the Bible and puts it right inside our hearts. So we now have this law of God written on our heart, and every born-again Christian has a tremendous delight for the Bible. a tremendous interest in the Bible. I can remember my own conversion, and immediately after I was saved, the Bible became a living book to me. I used to read it on the tractor. I used to read it in the mornings after milking. I used to read it at night. And this Bible became a word for my soul. Now, if someone said, Ian, could you prove that the Bible is infallible? I couldn't have done it. If someone had asked, Ian, can you prove that every word in the Bible is accurate? I couldn't have done it. But I knew when I read the Bible, God was speaking to me. This word was for me and my heart. And that's the marvel. God does this in every one of his children. When you're a child of God, You delight and take great joy in the word of the Lord. Now, we're in 1 Peter. Let's go to 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. Moms, what do you think when the baby doesn't want the bottle? When it has no interest in its milk, you would say the baby's sick. The baby is not well. And every child of God is thirsty for the milk of God's word. That's how Peter puts it. right here in 1 Peter 2 verse 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if so you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you have been introduced, saved, converted to Christ, Word will be your immediate interest. And Peter exhorts this and he says, grow in grace by feeding and drinking from the word of God. And that's why we have a preaching ministry in the Free Presbyterian Church. We don't have any gimmicks. We don't have any entertainment. We don't have any extras. Oh, sometimes there might be a special event or there might be a choir group that might sing a piece or something a little different. But outside of preaching, there's really nothing in a free Presbyterian meeting to attract a person. And that's because God has ordained that through the word people come to know him. And the preacher's task is to preach the word, preach the word of the cross, expound the cross, and tell sinners what it meant for Jesus to die on that middle tree, that he was our surety and our substitute, and tell men and women the plan of the gospel. That's the work of the preacher, and as the preacher preaches the word, God works to convert, to regenerate, and save. And that's why we teach our children the Bible. That's why we have them to memorize the scripture, because as that word is gotten into their hearts and minds, God, by his spirit, saves and changes and does his work. Now, I have one more place to go here, and that is verse 15, and that is conversion to Christ is radical because it powerfully turns our love away from the world to love the Father. We're back in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 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 in him. You can see the two opposites. It's either one or the other. You either love the world or you love the father. You can't have both. You can't be a slave to the world. and still be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. And the definition of the world is really everything that rules out God. The public forum where God is not wanted, where prayer is not wanted, where the Bible is not an authority, that is the world. Now, the friendship of the world becomes a problem. and it hinders. And so everyone that is born again will not love the world, but will love God's people and be brought into a new fellowship. and you walk with the Lord. Now, if you go to verse 13 in this chapter, it says, I write on to you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write on to you young men because you've overcome the wicked one. I write on to you little children because ye have known the father. And then he goes on to talk about loving one another. Now, this is very important in the church. our love for one another. And it is an absolutely amazing thing when you meet somebody for the first time. Maybe you're traveling, maybe you're in a new community and you hardly know anyone. And when you find out that someone's a Christian, you might even be in an airport and you see somebody reading a Bible, or you hear two people talking and they're saying things that a Christian would say, it picks up your interest and you might feel like going over and introducing yourself to them because they love the Lord and we love one another. Now, in the life of the Christian church, this is absolutely vital. that we love one another. A Christian church cannot exist without you and every other Christian following the 11th commandment. And you remember what the Lord Jesus said, this is a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. John the apostle had a pastor's heart. There is a wonderful story, and it is in Fairbairn's Dictionary where I read this, that there was a young man who professed faith in a church in John's day, and John mentored him, counseled him, and then entrusted him to another pastor to put him under his care. And of course, John was traveling around these churches. When he came back into that community, he asked the other pastor, how's the young man doing? And he said, I'm sorry to tell you, but he's dead. What? He's dead, he's dead to God. What do you mean? Well, he fell into crime. and he gathered a whole group of young men around him, and they've become a band of robbers that live up in the hills. Well, John the apostle found himself a horse and a guide, and he went up into the mountains, right into the thieves' den, and there he inquired after the young man, and they said, where is he? And when he went to talk to him, The young man could only look down. He was ashamed to look at the Apostle John. And John said to him, what do you think that we do not still love you? Do you not think that you have grieved God and you have brought such shame upon yourself and upon the church? And John brought that young man back and he personally mentored him until he had regained his testimony. and was a blessing in the church of Christ. He would not give up on him. And we need that pastoral attitude in the Lord's church today. Don't give up on people who, for whatever reason, lose out and get off track. Let's continue to pray for them and continue to care for them by whatever means we can. And this was the heart of John. He truly cared. Now we need that, and we all need to search our own hearts and say, do I love my brother more than myself? That's the royal law, isn't it? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and my neighbor as myself. And Paul said that we're to esteem other better than ourselves. And then the Lord Jesus himself gave the great example of washing the disciples' feet and made himself a servant to the people of God. You need that heart too. And maybe you need to pray, Lord, how can I serve you? How can I serve others? How can I become an instrument of God to reach some soul or to encourage fellow Christians? Pray for that. Pray for the Lord to open up opportunities, bring people into your path and make you a minister of grace onto them. And so you can see that conversion is indeed absolutely radical and it brings a tremendous change into your life. And keep on Keeping on. I'm going to close with the final verse of the chapter. I'm going to jump right down there where it speaks of, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. And so there has to be a new walk, a new life, accompanying a new profession. And as God is righteous, you will seek to do righteousness and serve the Lord more and more with all your heart. Well, there's the cue to end the sermon. Time is up and we're going to turn to our closing hymn today.