EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/14/2024 10:19 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Love As A Way of Life”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 2:9-11
Message of the verses: “9 The one who says
he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until
now. 10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause
for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who 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.”
I want to conclude this section this evening on this
important subject about love by looking at how John emphatically reiterates
that anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks [follows a
normal course of live] in the darkness. John
is saying that such people do not know where they are going. Let us look now at John 12:35 “So Jesus said
to them, "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you
have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where
he goes.” Now the reason that
they do not know where they are going is because the darkness has blinded their
eyes. These are like those who are
completely blind and actually grope around to determine where they are (cf.
Gen. 19:11; Acts 13:11-12). Let us look
now at those verses. “They struck the
men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.” These were the men who came to Lot’s house to
have immoral relations with what they thought were mere men but were actually
angles as they had the power to cause these men to be blind, but something
worse was about to happen to them the next day when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
“11 “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and
not see the sun for a time." And immediately a mist and a darkness fell
upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. 12 Then
the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching
of the Lord” (Acts 13:11-12). MacArthur
concludes “Such loveless people are clearly outside the kingdom of Light (cf.
Matt. 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15) and void of spiritual life. John described such claimants earlier as
liars: ‘5 This is the message we have
heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no
darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.’
“Unconverted sinners, devoid of love and living in
spiritual darkness, cannot possibly fulfill Jesus’ well-known love command (see
again John 13:34-35), which He originally gave to the apostles in the upper
room. Neither can they express the kind
og sacrificial love Jesus showed when He washed the apostles’ feet (John
13:3-15), nor what He referred to later that evening when He declared, ‘Greater
love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends’ (John
15:13; cf. 1 John 3:16).
“on the other hand, obedience to that commandment is
a valid test for each believer’s genuineness.
Such obedience provides a distinct contrast to those who are without
love and persist in walking in darkness.
Believers who manifest the new kind of love first taught by Jesus and
reiterated by John truly obey the Lord’s command in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Let
your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father who is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16; cf. Eph 5:8; Phil. 2:15;
1 Peter 2:9).”
Now with that quote we end this sixth chapter in
John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of 1 John and look forward to beginning
the 7th chapter titled “The Stages of Spiritual Growth” which cover
1 John 2:12-14).
10/14/2024 10:39 PM
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