Our Best Defense

 

We considered last time, what is required of us to walk in the truth.  

 

We mentioned –

 

Obedience

Putting aside the old self

 

Receiving this commandment

 

And remembering who this commandment comes from – a loving Father

 

This is the situation that John says he found some of them.

 

Now, in verse 5, he turns his attention once again to the lady to whom he is writing.

 

“Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

 

The beginning of what? What beginning is he talking about here?  

 

This beginning is the birth of their relationship to God.  When they were born again and able to respond to God’s word and command to love.

 

This cannot happen apart from the LORD. God’s love is poured out within our hearts through the Spirit who was given to us. (Rom 5:5) A union made possible only though salvation. 

 

This ability that we have to love is a direct result of our relationship to God. (We love because He first loved us) It is therefore proof of our faith – and proof that we are walking in truth. 

 

So where is it?

 

I ask you lady…. 

 

ASK – urge, implore.  KJV translates it – beseech.

 

John is begging this woman to love.  

 

When we are not showing love as we ought – and therefore not walking in the truth as we should – we are not proving ourselves to be children of God, and therefore putting ourselves in a very vulnerable position. 

 

We are vulnerable to attack, within and without.  Maybe one of the most common attacks we face is doubt. 

 

This is where doubt comes from. When we are not walking in the truth as we should, we are setting ourselves up as prime targets of the evil one. Satan loves to foster doubt in our minds – Am I really a child of God?  

 

This goes back to what we mentioned before that – walking in truth protects us.  It protects us from doubt, because it is proof of our faith.  One of the ways we know we are walking in truth is the extent to which I am exercising a real love. Only a child of God has the ability to obey this command. 

 

“Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him” – 1 John 3:18-19

 

We are coming to the end of the first half of this book. Before beginning the second half where he starts to talk about deceivers and false teachers, John is seeking to ground this lady in her faith.      

 

He continues to drive home this concept of walking in the truth in verses 5 and 6. 

 

Why?  Why is this so important, especially in light of the deception we face in this world.

 

V. 6 – And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”

 

We’ve said that this verse is the key verse in this book. Its key because real love does not sideline the truth. It’s key because truth and love are inseparable.  If you love God and if you love His people you are going to be walking in the truth. You are going to be obedient to what it is He has commands us to do.  (The word ‘commandment’ is used three times.) – This is what John has been trying to get across in these first six verses. 

 

Another reason this verse is key is because -- 

 

Walking in the truth is our best defense against deception. 

 

“…This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

 

V. 7 – “FOR many deceivers have gone out into the world…”

 

FOR – because. Purpose of. 

 

This is another reason why we are to be walking in truth.  Why we are to be firm in that which we have received at the inauguration of our faith. 

 

Because the truth has enemies.  There are going to be those who seek to undermine it – to shake our confidence in it. To twist it in such a way that supports their own agenda. 

 

How will we know what is false if we are not certain of what is true?

 

To catch a forgery, you don’t study the forgery you study the original. You know it inside and out so that if any line, mark or fiber is out of place you recognize it instantly.  

 

There isn’t just going to be one deceiver, but “many”.  And they are not all going to come at the truth from the same angle and in the same way, their tactics will be varied. So, we better be familiar with the whole of truth. 

 

“I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth” – 1 John 2:21

 

This is what we have heard from the beginning. We didn’t have to wait until we reached a certain level in our Christian walk before we were granted this information -- We’ve had it all along… and we have no excuse to be ill versed in it. 

 

How does walking in the truth protect us?

 

One of the ways that walking in the truth protects us is by solidifying our faith.

 

A firm faith comes from a firm grasp of truth.  Truth is what our faith is based off of, is it not? Failure to walk in truth greatly minimizes our ability to see faith in action. We are starving our faith.  

 

Spurgeon says – “There is never a doubt in our hearts about the existence of faith while it is in action.”

 

To walk in truth is to exercise faith.  It is to take hold of what God has told me, and do it. Without excuse, fear or doubt. 

 

God said it, I believe it, and that settles it – walking in truth bolsters our faith because it allows us to see evidence that we are children of God, and that God is who He says He is, and will do what He has said He will do. 

 

One of the prime evidences we will see is – love. 

 

“And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments…” 

 

The degree to which we are walking in the truth is measured by the love that we display.  

 

“but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” – 1 John 2:5

 

Talk about a solid faith. We can know, we can be sure of our faith if we are exercising a love by walking according to His word

 

Another way walking in the truth protects us is through an overcoming power.

 

Which ties very closely into faith.

 

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” – 1 John 5:3-4

 

This verse ties it all together – love, walking in truth, what we have heard from the beginning, faith and the protection it provides. 

 

Go back to our passage where John admonishes this lady to remember what she has heard in the beginning – when she was born of God.  Then take that to this verse.  Do you see the connection?

 

What we were given at the beginning is nothing less than an overcoming power. A power that is exercised through our faith. Through a faith that is bolstered in truth. 

 

Walking in the truth grants us access to an overcoming power. 

 

 “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; (Speaking of false prophets) because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” – 1 John 4:4

 

This is what endows our faith with an overcoming power – the fact that it rests on the One who is greater than all.  What better way is there to access this power than to walk in His ways?

 

Notice the past tense – “and have overcome them…”. How can he say that with such certainty about something we have yet to face? 

 

Because the power of God is such that it will not be denied. That’s the very nature of what it is – it is a conquering power.

 

And it is ours through faith – a faith that is bolstered and fed by walking in the truth.  This is why walking in the truth is so important – it protects us and prepares us to face the enemy. 

 

 

 

-Augusta