Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple, Spotify, and those enjoying this in our YouTube video podcast format. On today's episode, I'm finishing our series on five priorities for winning this Christmas. We've covered Christ, family, generosity, eternity, and now today, love. Now, why is love a priority that will help you win this Christmas? Because out of love flows humility, service, worship, obedience, joy, and love is ultimately how we reflect Christ to the world and those around us this Christmas season. To help us understand this, I'm gonna unpack 1 John chapter 2, verses 7 to 11 in this episode. And so if you're listening to this on the fly, hey, just follow along and reflect on it. But if you're able, hit pause, grab your Bible and a notepad or journal, and dig in with me into this text. A medieval writer once said, To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell. You know, statements like this remind me. Genuine love puts something on the line. Genuine, real love is vulnerable. It's gonna cost you. And real, genuine love, Christian love, is gonna cost you something this Christmas. And that's hard. It seems easier to be full of hate or to hold on to our bitterness or to hide yourself from the risk of love. But hatred, in particular, is like burning down your entire house to get rid of one rat. And bitterness is like acid. It'll just eat right through you. And in this text, one thing is clearer than anything else. Hate is the way of darkness, love is the way of light. And while we were we are always salt and light as believers, perhaps Christmas is one of those special times when our light can shine even brighter. In verse 7 of 1 John chapter 2, John says, Beloved, I'm writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. Now, we've got to understand this first before we walk into other verses, but John is essentially still flowing from verses five to seven on contrasting darkness and light. There's two ways to live. He's basically made it clear in the light or in the darkness. He's laid the groundwork with his original readers for this truth. It's not just about what you know, it's about how you live. And now here, how you live includes the way you love. And at that time, you gotta remember, false teachers were saying things like, you know, I know God, but then they lived like the world. Or false Christians would say, you know, I'm a Christian, I believe in God, I follow Christ, but they were practicing lifestyles of sinfulness. We have that today. People who are practicing homosexuals, or maybe they're a universalist, which means I just believe all religions lead to heaven, or I'm a good person, I'm fine, God will let me in. You know, there's a lot of people who think that way today. That's not hate speech, that's just facts. And we love everyone. Truth is truth, and one of the most loving things you can do is tell people the truth. But if you're gonna say you're a Christian, you don't just say it with your mouth, you live it by your actions. That's the underlying theme of 1 John. Here, he says, What I'm gonna tell you, it's nothing new. It's connected to the Old Testament commands, like in Leviticus 19, verses 17 to 18, it says, You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh. That's what God said in the Old Testament law. And that is law. It's do it because God said so. And hey, look, that still has to be fine with us today, because if God says it, we want to do it because we're followers of Christ. People should do things because God said so. But what John wants to do here is frame up a greater understanding and a new motive for love that doesn't just come from the law-driven do this, but from the New Testament, the new covenant because of Christ, which is why when he says in verse 8, at the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing to you, which is true in him, meaning Jesus, and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. That phrase at the same time translates, on the other hand, it's a new commandment I'm writing, which is true in Christ. Basically, again, John is saying, look, this isn't new because it was in the Old Testament. You've heard this before, but its newness is in the way you love and how it's presented. Think of Old Testament love as, you know, Old Testament love like old TV. You can see it, it's there, but it's not as clear of a full picture. And New Testament love in Christ, this is post the cross, would be like high definition television, you know, 4K or 6K perfect pictures. The way we love now is not just in light of the old covenant and God said so, but the new covenant in what Christ has done. His love is seen in the way he sent his son, the way that Jesus laid down his life, in the way that Christ gave a new commandment about love. In John 13, 34, Jesus says, A new commandment I give you. Love one another, as now I have loved you, so you must love one another. See, the newness of it is you know the law. Now, I want you to look at my life, meaning Christ's. A new commandment I give you. Love one another as I have loved you. John says, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. This phrase sheds light, no pun intended, on key truths like number one, the light of Christ has burst into the dark world. Number two, the light of Christ's love is pushing back the control of darkness. Number three, the light of Christ's love is saving his people in the midst of a world that still has some darkness, and ultimately, even though the world looks like it's being won over by darkness, a time is coming when Christ will return and abolish all darkness and wickedness, and every knee will bow and confess him as Lord. But until then, his love is still at work, and it works in and through us. There's a passage that you and I do well to remember this Christmas when it's hard to love people. It's Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, meaning you are loved, you are known, you are his, so copy your father, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. A fragrant offering, a sacrifice to God. See, genuine love imitates the love of Christ. Genuine love is action, genuine love is a way of life, and besides the cross, there is perhaps no greater example of Christ's love than when he washed the disciples' feet. In John 13, verses 1 to 17, you can find the story, and based on the events that took place that that night, I believe this is one of the greatest acts of love besides the cross, because he washes Peter's feet. Peter, the imperfect but bold friend, the denier eventually. And you know, he washes John's feet, which John is the beloved disciple, so okay, he washes Matthew's feet, a former tax collector, sure. But I think in the story we can look deeper into the fact that Judas is likely there. And he gets his feet washed. In fact, he's there for the Lord's supper, all of it. And he's the backstabbing, betraying, conniving, thieving, sellout, and so-called friend who turned him over just a short time later for thirty pieces of silver to be nailed to the cross. In that moment, as Jesus takes a knee and scrubs the disciples' filthy feet, and Judas in particular, and drives them off, he's the embodiment of his own words in Matthew 5.44 when he said, But I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. And so when we follow his example this Christmas, well, we are doing exactly what we're called to do. And so if you want to write down kind of a point or a principle or an action item, love is how a genuine Christian reflects Jesus Christ. This is what we do. This time of year is the perfect opportunity to look in the mirror and ask yourself, for me, to ask myself, does my love reflect Christ? How do I love people who can do nothing for me? Not merely those you want something from, or they're gonna help you kind of ladder climb, or they're gonna have you have help you get more money or more clout, more attention, you're more noticed, you know, you want something from them. But no, you actually just love them. They can do nothing for you. You lay yourself down for them, and it's just love. Is that the way we're treating people this Christmas? Then John keeps going deeper. He says in verses nine to eleven, whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in 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 eyes. This is a huge indictment that hate and the Christian are like oil and water. They just don't mix. The statement he says also puts a massive weight of conviction, a greater indictment on false teachers and false Christians in the context here that kept saying they were Christians, they followed Christ, but they were wicked people filled with hatred in their hearts. Their lifestyles and their beliefs were cloaked in darkness, and yet they claimed to be of the light. They were lost, they were blind. And this is the mark of the unbeliever. This is the mark of the world. And we want to be not just looking at the world and looking down on it, thinking, oh, yeah, that's the way all of them are, but really be careful and meditate on the words of 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 8. Paul is preparing Timothy for the kind of culture in which people would love themselves but not others. And we ought to ask, do I look like this? Paul says in the last days there'll be difficult times. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive. They're disobedient to their parents, they're ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable in the ESV, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, and then treacherous, reckless, swollen, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. He goes on to say, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power, avoid such people, Paul says. I think we should say, avoid such people, absolutely, and then we need to look in the mirror and avoid these traits altogether and ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify and purge them out of our own life. You see a lot of this today, especially during the Christmas season, a lot of bitterness, a lot of hatred, a lot of unforgiveness and anger towards family, towards people who we have to see again or have to deal with. Maybe our own pressures or our own trials are causing us to lash out at others. Maybe there's a selfish ambition or an agenda we have, and so we begin to cut others out or not want to love them like Christ. People who claim to love others but don't act on it, people who claim to follow Christ but operate that way mirror more the people that John is warning, the people who Paul warns about than the people of God. And so we want to be really honest with ourselves during these seasons and especially Christmas, that we are being honest about our sin and about our need for Christ. And in that we are being renewed in his love once again. That he loved us when we were yet sinners. Listen, I think we need to get on the offense with this sort of thinking and reject bitterness and hatred and gossip and lies and slander and laziness and vengeance and cynicism and all of these things, and be actively opposing those things. And when we see them surface in our life, be quick to confess. We want to love what God loves and we want to hate what God hates. Spurgeon said this a loving spirit, a kind, generous, forgiving, unselfish spirit, seeking the good of others. This is one of the best proofs that our natural darkness has gone and that true spiritual light is within us. You know, that's what the Apostle John wants for his readers. It's what I would want for you as you reflect on this text in this episode. When we think about Christmas and we think about love and we think about priorities for winning this Christmas, may it be that love permeates our lives and it proves our faith. That's John's point here that love is how a genuine Christian really tests their faith. They see that they are of the faith. You and I, we know that we're genuine Christians. Why? How we love one another. This doesn't mean you overlook the truth, but it means you have a heart of love in the midst of every situation. So do you love others? Or are you full of hate? Perhaps you're not full of hate, but you're unloving in other ways, the way that you gossip or vindictive behavior or your narcissistic patterns or a judgmental spirit or undercutting and conniving, trying to move the chess pieces in life so that others are not blessed or benefiting, or everyone else is second to you. Whatever it is that's driving you, John's driving point, is part of a bigger theme. That genuine faith is connected to how you live and love. First Corinthians 13 offers one of the most helpful descriptions about the kind of love that we ought to strive for by God's grace. Paul says, if I speak with the tongues of men, but I have not love. I'm a clinging symbol. I'm just making noise. And if I have all prophetic powers and I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have faith, and I can remove mountains, but I don't have love, I'm nothing. If I give away all my stuff and deliver my body to be burned, I'm a martyr, but I don't have love, I gain nothing. And then he goes on to list love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, doesn't boast, it's not arrogant, it's not rude, it doesn't insist on its own way, it's not irritable, not resentful, doesn't rejoice at wrongdoing, it rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never ends. The only way to walk out that sort of saintly love is to walk towards Christ as a sinner, to be honest, that you're gonna fail to living up to God's standard for love. But the more time you spend with Jesus, the more you will love like Jesus. And so this Christmas season, are you spending time with him? Are you loving him and relishing in his love? Because your heart is like a well. It will pour out what you are filled up with. And if you fill yourself up with Christ this Christmas, you will love in a way that reflects who he is, and in turn, you're gonna have assurance that your faith is real. And in that, what? Well, then you can share the gospel, and your life can be a reflection of the gospel. And what's the whole point? That you would impact others with the love of God that they may know him and be saved by him and all unto his glory. Remember that. In all you do in loving people, give them the truth of the gospel. That is the most loving thing you can do because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And don't we need salvation this Christmas and every single day? Well, that concludes our series this Christmas season. It's been a joy digging into these five priorities. I do want to say a Merry Christmas to you, to your family, all of our for the gospel friends and patrons and those of you that are benefiting from these resources. Let's look to the power of the Holy Spirit to help us live out all five of these priorities: Christ, family, generosity, eternity, and love. And I pray that those five would overwhelm your heart this Christmas season and beyond. Thanks for listening, for watching, and supporting. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel or go to forthegospel.org to get free resources. Check out our new for the gospel store. We've got a ton of great items in there that when you purchase, you're supporting the ministry, or you can click on give and sign up to become a gospel patron and partner with our ministry financially and help us produce more free resources. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Merry Christmas and keep on living for the gospel.