Peter Barnes | 1 John 2:7-11
SERMON NOTES
THE TEST OF LOVE
Deuteronomy 24:7-22; 1 John 2:7-11
Robert Murray McCheyne: ‘For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ!’ Calvin: ‘fictitious sanctity dazzles the eyes of almost all men’.
1. Jesus commands Christians to love each other.
– 2:7-8a; new and old commandment (Lev.19:18; John 13:34)
– ‘the mark of the Christian’ (Francis Schaeffer); 1 Thess.4:9
2. Not to love is to walk in darkness.
– 2:8b-9, 11; note John 8:12; the presence of the Spirit (Rom.8:9) bears fruit (Gal.5:22-23)
– Horatius Bonar:
Belovèd, let us love:
In love is light,
And he who loveth not,
Dwelleth in night.
3. Not to love is to be a stumbling block.
– 2:10; the Good News Bible says that the loving Christian will not cause another to stumble; the NIV says the loving Christian will not stumble. Probably the latter, although the two ideas are close.
– Christ and His cross are necessarily stumbling blocks (1 Cor.1:23; Rom.9:33); Gal.5:6