1st John 3:10-23
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of
God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For
this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one,
and slew his brother. And
wherefore slew he him? Because
his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We
know that we have passed from death unto life, because
we love the brethren. He
that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life
for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the
love of God in him? My
little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue;
but in deed and truth. And hereby we know that we are of the
truth, and shall assure our hearts because of him. For
if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart,
and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, then we
have confidence toward God. And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in
his sight. And
this is the commandment, That we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as
he gave us commandment”
(1 John 3:10-23).
“Good
morning. Let’s turn in our Bibles to 1st John
chapter 3. One
more thing, if you could keep this in prayer. I
was, during worship, as the worship team was playing and
we were singing
“Step by Step”, I remember years ago living in
San Diego and working in the career I was in and was at home,
just spending some time with the Lord in prayer and seeking
the face of the Lord, God put things on my heart, and I was
listening to a tape by Rich Mullins and that tape had on
it that song “Step by Step”, it was newly out. And
as I was listening to it, God had already put a burden on
my heart for ministry in New England, and I was praying about
that and considering Boston. And
as I was listening to this song, suddenly I started to daydream,
and I started to think about being back in college in Boston
in my college days, and being on the radio and just ministering
to students. I got excited, I even got up and started
playing with the cassette-deck, rewinding that song Step
by Step. And I said, ‘If I ever have a radio
program this would be a great song for a radio program. Well
from that I just couldn’t stop thinking about it that
day. And I even started to tell people in our
Bible study that we were a part of ‘You know, some
day I’m going to be on the radio in the Boston area
and this will be the song.’ Well, anyway, I was sounding kind of goofy
and being goofy about it, but God, it was really a plan of
the Lord and he was just moving my heart. So
we came out here, and as you guys who attend here know the
story, God has raised up this radio station Wxxx, and in
time there was a radio program called Step by Step. Well, I’ll say it was probably about
a year and a half ago, WJCX in Bangor, the ministry up there
called us up and wanted to work with us as far as getting
a radio program on our station, but they offered to us free
of charge that our radio program Step by Step would be on
their station. So
without ever pursuing it or even spending any money, the
church program Step by Step is on locally, but it’s
also been on for awhile now in Bangor, Maine. And I’ve met people who are listening,
supposedly being encouraged, I hope anyway. Well,
I say this to you, because just recently the Lord is doing
his work, and we have talked about, some of you have already
heard the news, about the FCC and having applications with
the FCC as far as radio licenses, and this last week we heard
that CSN, the Calvary Satellite Network was awarded a construction
permit, a license for WJWT which is an FM radio station in
Gardner, Massachusetts. So
it would appear at this time, not too long in the future,
we’ll also be broadcasting our services live I presume,
and Step by Step on another radio station 24 hours a day. Now
some of you that live in Gardner and beyond, you know you
lose our signal. You guys have hung in there and been faithful,
now you guys get to listen 24 hours a day and in FM, which
certainly is a privilege. So
keep that in prayer. Of
course there is a lot to it. The
license is a big deal, but the construction and dealing with
zoning and cities is just as big an accomplishment, so keep
it in prayer. And
there’s other things happening as far as radio for
CSN in the area, and I would just ask you to keep praying,
because, man does this community ever need to hear that Jesus
Christ loves the people and wants to work in their lives,
especially at a time as this. So
please keep it in prayer. [this
particular congregation with its radio ministry now has four
stations, one on the Cape, one in Plymouth, a potential one
in Lunenburg, and that one in Gardner. But
this is 2007 and he’s saying this in July of 2003. They
went through a bumpy, winding and twisting road to accomplish
all that, God testing their faith all the way. But
the results are real, they’re now on four new FM radio
stations, as well as still being on their original AM station.]
Let’s
say a prayer again, and we’ll get started in 1st John. We’re going to pick up, we left
off last week in verse 10, so we’ll pick up 11 of chapter
3 of 1st John. If you don’t have a Bible there’s
Bibles in front of some of the seats you can snag one or
share a Bible. ‘Lord we just thank you that we
can look at your Word together this morning and that we once
more can have you speak to our hearts. And
we so much need to hear your voice and we just need your
instruction, we need to know what you think, we need to know
your wisdom, we need to know your love, we need to know your
direction in our lives. So
as we spend this time in your Word, of course we need to
be hearing from you, not just listening to a man’s
voice share some Scriptures and some thoughts, or being distracted
thinking about the ball game [Red Sock territory—too
bad, Yankee fans] or something else. We
need to hear from you Lord. You
are our Creator, you created the heavens and the earth. You
love us, and some day we’re going to stand before you. So
give us ears to hear, and Holy Spirit be upon all of us and
on myself as we go through your Word. In
Jesus name, Amen.’
Jesus separates the “sheep” from
the “goats”
You
remember in Matthew chapter 25 Jesus shared a parable. And in this parable he was illustrating
through this story about when he comes in his glory and he
comes with all his angels, and all the nations are gathered
around his throne as his sits upon his throne to judge the
world, he shares this parable and he likens this day of judgment
as like when a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. One day he too, as he shares this, will
separate his people from the people of the world, his sheep
from the goats. That’s
what is illustrated in that parable [according to Calvary
Chapel interpretation. There are slightly different interpretations
as to who the goats are in differing churches and groups
within the body of Christ]. In
fact, as he shares, he’ll put his people on one hand,
the right hand, and those that weren’t his people on
the other side of his throne. And
those of his people that will be separated to the right hand
will be people that will inherit the kingdom of God that
was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. But
those that weren’t his people, that didn’t know
him, that didn’t love him, he will separate to his
left hand, and they will be destined, as it says there in
the parable, to everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. Now according to Jesus if you remember
this parable, what was the distinguishing mark as he makes
that separation between the sheep and the goats? He
notes in that parable there’s a distinguishing mark
that he uses to separate one from the other. What
will be the characteristic that will exactly determine who
belongs in what group?---child of God or not a child of God? What
is the characteristic? Will
it be a life of holiness? Will
it be one of enduring faith? Will
it be a life of the knowledge of the truth? As
you remember the parable, no, that isn’t the distinguishing
mark, although those certainly are characteristics true of
every believer in Jesus Christ. But as he shares in Matthew 25 the distinguishing
mark, the determining factor will be that of love. That’s what he says very clearly,
that is a true love, a love that is more than just words
or deeds, but a love that is practically seen in ministering
to the needs of others. You know Jesus will say to his people
on that day, the sheep, note it in the parable, Matthew 25,
verses 34-40, “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and
you gave me drink: I was a stranger and you took me in, I
was naked and you clothed me: I was sick and you visited
me, I was in prison and you came in to me. Then shall the righteous [the sheep] answer
unto him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and
fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took
thee in? or naked
and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison
and came unto thee?” Of
course, as he says, the sheep will say ‘When did we
do that to you?’ ‘We don’t ever remember seeing
you.’ Jesus will reply (verse 40), “Assuredly
I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least
of these my brethren, you did it to me.” Then
to the goats Jesus will say, “Assuredly I say to you,
in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to me. So
they will be sent away to everlasting punishment, but the
righteous to eternal life” (Verses 45-46). So,
on judgment day, as our lives are summed up, completely,
we see things for what it really is, what will be the stand-out
characteristic that proves you are a child of God? Jesus
shares in that parable, it will be love, a true love, a love
in the heart. [Note: this is a parable. The
judgment that sends people to hell-fire, as seen in Revelation
20:14-15, in reality occurs at a different time than this
Bemis Seat judgment for the saints. Parables make a point, show a lesson. But the reality of when the events in a parable
occur is often different. Those
who use parables to determine timing of prophetic Biblical
events often fall into gross error in the area of interpretation.] And that’s what we saw last week,
as John was demonstrating there in 1st John in
the beginning of the chapter, that as children of God, we
have been infused with the life of God, and where you have
the life of God you also have the love of God. The two go hand-in-hand [i.e. Agape-love]. And he made it very clear, especially
in verse 10. That if there is a child of God indeed,
you will see love in their life. “In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother.” And so John was teaching on the that,
and now we continue on that in verse 11, as he makes this
transition where he really focuses especially on this subject
of love. Verses
11-15, of chapter 3, “For this is the message that
you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s
were righteous. Do
not marvel my brethren if the world hates you. We
know that we have passed from death to life because we love
the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides
in death. Whoever
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him.” You might be getting the feeling,
as we’ve been studying 1st John that John
seems to repeat himself. And it’s clear, he does. It’s true, there’s several
subjects, three subjects in particular that he visits over
and over again. That is the subject of obedience, then
the subject of love, and the subject of truth. Now
he comes back to this subject of love. And some of this, as you’re reading
sounds a little familiar. But
keep this in mind, as we’re studying 1st John. Each
time he comes back to a subject he’s visited before,
inbetween he lays the foundation to actually go even deeper
into the subject. And that’s what he does now, he
gives some additional things to consider. Now
we’ve already heard John make strong statements concerning
the love, the love of God being in the heart of a believer. Back
in chapter 2, in fact in a section that we studied on a whole
Sunday morning, in chapter 2 verses 7 to 11, this whole thing
was about love. Of course, in chapters 1 and 2 John emphasized
fellowship, communion with God, how important it is. And as he was talking about that, he listed
things that would hinder me from having communion and closeness
with God. And one of the things he talked about
in chapter 2 was if there’s not a love for the brethren,
my brother, in my heart, that is going to hinder my fellowship
with God. And
he says that. You
can say that you’re in the light, close to God, but
if there’s not love for your brother, then you’re
clearly not close to God, is what he said back in chapter
2 as you remember. But
if there is a real sincere love in your heart for your brother,
then that would indicate you’re close to God, because
that is the heart of God.
Well
now in chapter 3 he comes back to this subject of love. But as you remember as we started last
week, he’s now emphasizing sonship, what it means to
be a child of God. And as he talks about being a child of
God, now he gives characteristics, things that are true of
the life of somebody who is a child of God. So
he goes back now to the subject of love. If
there is the love of God and the love for others in somebody’s
heart, that would indicate that they are a child of God. But
if there’s a lack of that, then there’s something
wrong. There’s a lack of proof that they’re
a child of God. Now
in verse 10 he made this really clear, in very strong words
as he does. He
said it explicitly, what will prove that you’re a child
of God or a child of the devil. A
child of God does righteousness, works of righteousness,
but also loves others. But somebody who isn’t a child of
God does not do righteousness, works of righteousness and
does not love his brother. He
made that real clear. Well now in verse 11, as we picked up
there, he goes and mentions that love again is foundational
to the Christian faith. We
studied that again in chapter 2. It
is foundational, it is from the beginning. In
fact, it goes all the way back to the Old Testament, God
is love, love is foundational to the Christian faith. It’s
a commandment from the beginning, chapter 2. But
as he notes here it’s also the message that we’ve
heard from the beginning. Jesus’ very words to his disciples
were “love one another” [John 14-16]. And
then Jesus said to the disciples, “By this, all will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.” [And
also in Matthew 5, this extended to love for your very enemies.] So it’s the message we’ve
heard from the beginning. A
Christian, to be a Christian, is to be somebody who loves
your brother. And as Jesus said in Matthew 25, on judgment
day, my life, if I’m a Christian, will be characterized
by love, loving others, loving my brother. That
is the sheep of the shepherd, the sheep of the Lord, they
will have love in their hearts. But a goat on the other hand, somebody
who’s not a child of God, will not have that love in
their hearts. [And here’s a scary observation. Goats and sheep often dwell together on
farms. This is
an indication that this is also talking about people who
attend church, often the same church together. Some who are genuine goats, and from the context
of Matthew 25, they think they’re sheep. Jesus
has to actually separate them in the parable, although the
actual separation will occur on two separate judgment days,
in two separate resurrections, the 1st and 2nd,
cf. Revelation 20:5-6, 11-13. This
may also be talking about goats in the world. But
personally I believe it’s talking more about goats
who attend church, thinking they’re sheep. The
parable in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats is not
just talking about non-believers “in the world”,
but can also be talking about actual members of the very
same churches the sheep are dwelling in. I
don’t know if the pastor will bring this point out,
so I am making it here. Sobering thought. Read 2 Corinthians 13:5.] And that’s what he mentions in verse
12, the first person on this planet, who did not have a heart
for God, the first goat, you would say, as far as using the
illustration of Jesus was the third person who ever lived
on this planet, and that was the firstborn of Adam and Eve,
it was Cain. And
that’s what he mentions here in verse 12. He
had such a heart, that though he was the first human to ever
be born, he was not a child of God. That’s
what John tells us right here in these verses, verse 12. And
that became very evident as he grew and began to treat his
brother in a certain way. In
Genesis 4 we’re told that both Cain and Abel, these
two brothers, offered sacrifices to the Lord. But then we’re told that the Lord
looked down and he respected, he accepted Abel’s sacrifice. But
when he looked at Cain and the manner that he offered his
sacrifice, he did not accept Cain’s sacrifice. And
we’re told in Genesis 4 that Cain became very angry. And why was he angry? Well, it seemed that there was some jealously
there, there was a root of jealousy. ‘You
accepted my brother’s, but you didn’t accept
mine.’ But there was this element, and we’re
going to go into this, and is where John brings us in these
verses, there was this desire his heart. He
wanted to be a certain way, he did not want to change. But Abel was doing the right thing. And then with that, looking now at his
sin and seeing his nature for what it is, there was just
a hatred of the light, a hatred of the truth. So
Cain didn’t want to change. And
the fact that Abel was doing what was right kind of put him
in a predicament, kind of made him [Cain] feel a certain
way. So, God
came to Cain, and really as you remember the passage, he
encouraged Cain to change….he encouraged him, ‘you
know, if you do the right thing, you know Cain I’ll
accept what you have also. I’m
not like being biased here. Do
the right thing, and you know what it is. Offer
it with a right heart, a heart of love and worship, and I
indeed will accept your sacrifice also Cain.’ But
as often the case in the human heart, Cain did not want to
change. And it
was just a change of heart. As
you look at Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews says that Abel’s
sacrifice was more excellent, and what made it more excellent
again, was just the heart. It
was that he offered it in faith. Evidently
Cain didn’t come in faith. Cain
didn’t come in worship. So it wasn’t so much what
he offered, but it was the attitude of his offering. But
yet he was unwilling to change his heart, unwilling. Well, God warned him and said ‘If
you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire
is for you, but you should rule over it.’ God
saw what was in his heart. God
saw the jealously, God saw this hatred rising up. God
knew that Cain was about to stumble if he didn’t repent
and change his way. But Cain was unwilling, so one day as
you remember the story, he was out in the field with his
brother Abel, and this hatred now begins to work its way
out in such a way that he takes his brother, never happened
on the planet earth before, and he murders him brutally there,
murders he brother, thereby showing what was in his heart. So if you look at the first two descendants
of Adam and Eve, man you can see who was the child of God
and who wasn’t. You can see it in the things they did. You can see in their hearts. One was a goat, and one was a sheep, again
using the illustration of Jesus. There
was the love in one heart and there was the absence of love
in the other heart. And that made the difference very clear. You know, I heard the news this week,
somebody was sharing this story this week about that basketball
player at Baylor University, this guy that just disappeared. And
I haven’t heard the news in the last couple days, so
I don’t know the latest reports, but he’s been
missing for a little bit of time, and there’s the belief
that he’s potentially dead, they haven’t found
him. But also there is the possibility, they
are saying, that he was murdered, murdered supposedly by
a friend, another ball player at Baylor. Well
this person was telling me about this news story, and I then
since read about it in the newspaper, but as the person was
telling me, they saw this on the news. But then what jumped out at them was the
newscaster at the very end made this statement ‘Oh,
yea, Baylor University is a Christian university.’ And
that just kind of irked him, as this person watched this. And
so there was this seemingly a statement that said, you know, ‘Look
at the hypocrisy. See,
there’s really no difference, is there, Christian university,
non-Christian university, this stuff happens everywhere’,
seemed to be the statement that was being made. But you know, just because somebody attends
Baylor University that I guess is a Christian university,
it doesn’t mean that they’re really born-again. Right? Just as, if you come to this church, it
doesn’t mean you’re really born-again. That
doesn’t save you. Having
a relationship with Jesus Christ does. And
that’s the point that John is making, if somebody’s
born-again there’s going to be a certain life within
them, there’s going to be a certain life-style. But before we go on, he’s talking
about Cain the murderer, may we not just think that it’s
the big sins, murder and things like that, that indicate
that somebody is without God, or may we not think that because
somebody is a murderer that doesn’t mean necessarily
that they won’t go to heaven. Clearly,
as we study the Bible, there are people that committed murder,
that also are in [the kingdom of] heaven today, David. David
committed cold-blooded murder, but that man is in the kingdom
of heaven today. He repented of his sin. Also Paul, Paul was responsible for murder,
the guy who wrote most of the New Testament. But
he repented of his sin when he heard the gospel and turned
to God and was saved. [More
like when he saw the actual object of the Gospel, Jesus Christ,
glowing like the sun right in front of him on the road to
Damascus.] So,
he was forgiven of his sin. I
think too, of this story, indicating this point, during the
Korean War there was a South Korean Christian who was arrested
by the Communists, and he was ordered shot. But
when the young Communist leader learned that the prisoner
was in charge of an orphanage caring for small children,
he decided to spare him and kill his son instead. So, they wouldn’t kill him, but
they took his son, who was 19 years old, and in his presence
they killed his son. But later the fortunes of war changed,
and the young Communist leader was captured by the United
Nations forces and was tried and condemned to death. But
before the sentence was carried out, the Christian who’s
boy had been killed pleaded for the life of the killer. He
declared that he was young, and that he really didn’t
know what he was doing at the time. ‘Give
him to me,’ said the father, ‘and I’ll
train him.’ And
the United Nations forces granted the request, and that father
took the murderer of his boy into his own home and cared
him, and today this young Communist is a Christian pastor. But
there is a story, making a point right there, an illustration. Right? There
was a man that committed murder, there was a man that was
taking care of an orphanage. You could see whose the goat and whose
the child of God, but later the goat also became a child
of God. And anybody here, that’s in this
room today, no matter what you’ve done or what you’ve
been, you can become a Christian. You
just have to repent and turn to Jesus [Yeshua]. He’s
waiting, he loves you, he wants to give you eternal life. So,
you see that illustrated in that story.
Hatred is the spirit of murder
But
John isn’t saying it’s murder, and if you do
that you’re not going to be granted eternal life. Maybe you’re thinking ‘Well,
I never committed murder, so I’m OK.’ That’s
what the religious Pharisees did, but then John in verse
15 takes it a little bit further. In
verse 15 he equates hate with murder [as Jesus does in Matthew
5], he puts the two on the same level. He
says it’s an issue of heart. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. He’s dealing with the heart. He’s dealing with the heart is what
he’s dealing with. He
equates the absence of the love of God in a heart, instead
where there’s now this hatred, he equates that with
murder. And he
says it’s that heart, it’s that heart that’s
unwilling to change, like a heart of Cain, unwilling to repent,
that is the heart that he is referring to. In fact, in verse 15, that is the heart
that will not have eternal life. It’s
the heart, it’s the issue at heart. Now
I believe that Cain had the opportunity to repent, as you
look at the story. God came to him and he said ‘Cain,
where’s your brother Abel?’ I
believe in that he gave him an opportunity to repent. But
his heart was so hard he denied the whole deal. He
says ‘I have no idea.’ And
then he actually said ‘Am I my brother’s keeper? Come on, God, am I supposed to be taking
care of him?’ The
answer to that is
‘Yes, you’re to love, you’re to be looking
out for him.’ But God came to him and gave him the opportunity
to repent, and he didn’t repent. So
John says he was a son of the wicked one. It was in his heart. His heart was hard. And eventually the fruit of his heart
was visible. In
his instance it was murder, but in other people it’s
in other ways. It’s
all about the heart. In
time the fruit that will come from that will prove whether
or not somebody is a child of God, and that is what John
is saying here. Now it’s interesting, he says a
child of God, somebody who knows the Lord will love.
The world hates us
But
at the very same time in these verses, verse 13, it says
Christians will love, even though at the same time they will
be hated. They
will love, because the love of God is in them, but they’re
going to be hated by the world. Now
why are Christians hated by the world? I
think it’s the same reason that you see in Cain and
Abel. Cain hated
Abel because Cain, in fact Jesus said this in John chapter
3, verse 20, it illustrates this, it says it perfectly. “For
everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come
to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” So
somebody who has a certain heart to do just whatever he wants
to do, he doesn’t want the light, he hates the light. It
makes him squirm, makes him feel bad about himself. He doesn’t want to feel bad about
himself, he just wants to be comfortable doing what he wants
to do. So Cain saw what Abel did and he hated
him for it. And
so John says don’t marvel at that brethren, don’t
be at all surprised if the world also hates you. 1
John 3:13, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate
you.” So as Christians, we will be people
that love, it’s in us. Yet
we’re told the world will hate us. The
world will hate us for that very reason. Now,
I remember just a week ago we had our baptisms, you know,
at the State Forest, so we’re out in pubic. I
love to do it at the State Forest, just to very simply and
quietly declare the love of God to this community. So
there’s a good group of us gathering, and we set up
our guitars, and of course we started to draw attention,
you know. ‘Why
are all these people going to this group?’ And
somebody pulls out a guitar and several other instruments
and we started to sing praises to Jesus. Well
I was facing our group, and I was going to share from the
Word, and as I was facing our group I looked beyond our group,
and I could tell there was a lady there, she was really angry
that we were there. She
just was. She
got up, she was walking around, I’m sure she wanted
to find someone just to complain, to tell on us. But
I was thinking, I was watching her, and I’m trying
to sing. She
was totally irritated that we were there. And
I was thinking, ‘What is the big deal?’ We’re singing songs to Jesus. And she’s like ‘Grrrr!” That’s exactly what she was like, ‘You’re
going to sing songs to Jesus in this park?!?’ What’s
the big deal? But
she liked darkness. And
the light bothers you. So
you don’t want to change. It’s making you uncomfortable. I wish I had been in this passage, I could
have just said it aloud to that lady. ‘Lady,
want to know why you’re squirming? It’s because of your heart. You know, I was thinking, what if a rock
band came, one of these rock bands that just like to sing
about evil and darkness and party, and they came and put
their boom box on and they started to play, I wonder if she
would have been as irate? She
probably would have been upset by the noise. But I bet you she wouldn’t have
been so steamingly hot. But
we were just singing to Jesus. So
that’s what he’s saying here. It’s
like the issue with Cain. All
Abel did was come and offer his sacrifices to God. But
Cain said, ‘I want to kill him!’ So
that’s what he did. That’s
because he had a heart ultimately influenced by Satan. Well,
he says, “Don’t marvel my brethren if the world
hates you.” Don’t marvel.
Now,
Jesus said, John chapter 15, verse 18, “If the world
hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.” “If
you were of the world, the world would love its own, yet
because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of
the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember
the word that I said to you. The
servant is not greater than his master. If
they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If
they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But
all these things they will do to you for my name’s
sake, because they do not know him who sent me. If
I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But
now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works
which no one else did, they would have no sin. But
now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. This happened that the word might be fulfilled
which is written in their law ‘They hated me without
a cause’” (verses 19-25). He
says, ‘They hated me, so they’ll also hate you.’ He
says, ‘They hated me without a cause.’ ‘And
that is because, he says, when I came they now saw their
sin.’ And that is exactly the same for you and
I as Christians. We
have this love of God in our hearts, you know I come on a
Sunday morning, and there will be people, ‘Aw bummer,
they’re not here’, and I’m burdened for
them, they’re checking out the Gospel, they’re
young in the Lord, and I won’t see them, and I’ll
be bothered, ‘Oh Lord, draw them here, they need to
hear about Jesus, draw them to another church.’ That’s
in the heart of a Christian to be concerned for others. But
the world on the other hand, looks at the church and ‘Oh,
they bug me, they bug me.’ Well
John says don’t marvel, don’t worry, just keep
moving ahead, this is just part of being a Christian. You know, we had our parade there on July
4th, it was cool, you know, 20 of us or so, there
was a float, walking down through the town parade, and I’m
amazed by all the people that come out to the parade there
in this town. Kind
of a neat time, we gave out 5,000 little flyers, one of the
flyers that’s in your bulletin, bunch of candy that
people had purchased. And
I didn’t plan any of this. People
just kind of did it. And
there was even groups that made little bracelets for kids,
so the kids in our group were going out giving bracelets
to kids and just loving the people. And as we were going along, one young
person came up to me and says “You know, some of these
flyers, I’m giving them to people, and they’re
just ripping them up.” You
know, just making a statement to a child. And all the flier says is “Concert,
Christian concert.” Rip,
rip, rip, ‘Why are you giving this to me?’ Well
I told this person, ‘Hey man, that’s what the
Bible says.’ But
there are also people in this crowd that have a different
attitude. And
God’s going to use that flier, so don’t marvel
man, if the world hates you. Don’t let it slow you down. But just keep giving out the Gospel and
loving people. You
know I also read in the newspaper this week, USA Today, this
NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon, the article caught my eye as
I was looking through it, and that is because Jeff Gordon
at one time was professing at least through things that he
did that he was a Christian. And,
you know, if he had a victory, and he had a lot of them,
he would make a point to go out of the way there and give
thanks to God that he had been given a victory. But now in the article he’s changed. And so the newspapers write it up. He’s no longer so radical, he’s
a little bit more tame, and just doesn’t do these types
of religious expressions. I was reading that, and just reading the
article. And
of course, that’s what the world wants. That’s
what he’s writing about. ‘This
guy was doing it before, but he stopped, he’s not doing
it anymore, so let’s write a newspaper article about
it. He’s
not doing these things, these things bug us.’ Well,
there is a tendency, I don’t know where Jeff Gordon
stands with God, only God knows that, but sometimes it’s
even true of Christians, because of the hatred, because of
the animosity, because of the tension, we start to back down. But this [passage] is an encouragement
for us. This
is the way it is, but don’t slow down, don’t
back down. Love
people, man, get the Gospel out, reach out to them. Understand,
there’s going to be these things, but don’t let
it discourage you. John
mentions in these verses too, he says we’re to love,
yet the world is going to hate us. But then he says, “But we know” and when he says “we know” he
uses the Greek intuitive word, that word oeda. He says “But we know that we have passed from death to life because we
love the brethren….” (verse 14a). He
says that “we perceive”, there’s proof
in my life, the fact that I love other people. It
says to me, ‘Man, God is doing a work in me, and I
am indeed a Christian.’ So there’s the fruit. I wasn’t like that before, something
has changed….he’s referring to, ‘we know
that there was a certain time when I passed from death to
life. I wasn’t
like that before, but then I heard the Gospel and I came
to Jesus Christ, and now there’s the love of God in
my heart, and I love people in a way I didn’t love
them before. So
I look and say ‘Man, something’s happened, I’m
indeed a Christian.’ That’s
what he means. It’s
proof that I’m a Christian. “….but he who does not love
his brother abides in death” (verse 14b). We
were all spiritually dead when we were born [physically born],
apart from God. But
those who have Christ in their hearts now are alive spiritually. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
in him” (verse 15).
“By this we know love, because
he laid down his life for us---and we also ought to lay
down our lives for our brethren”
Now
let’s read verses 16 to 18. “By
this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives
for our brethren. But
whoever has this world’s good and sees his brothers
in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love
of God abide in him?” (verses
16-17) So
he goes further with it. You
know, John is really making his point clear. And
he says here in verse 16, “By
this know”, the word there is ginosko, By this we know, experientially what love is….” and that is that
we look at the cross. I
see what Jesus did. “By
this we know, because he laid down his life for us.” There it is for me now, what kind
of love God is talking about. That
is what it means. I
know what it is, as I look, consider, what Jesus Christ has
done for me. So,
by this we know, as we look at his work for us. But now he says at the end of verse 16 “and we also ought to lay down our
lives for our brethren.” You
know, it’s interesting. This
is 1st John 3:16. Of
course, you can’t help but think of John 3:16. “For
God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believes in him shall not perish”, that
speaks of the love of God. People
believing in him and being saved. This
is a very important verse that we should just memorize. A lot of us know John 3:16, but 1st John
3:16 is then the next step. Yes,
we know love, God so love the world that he gave his only
begotten Son. But now brethren, now Christians, we also
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren [and as other
passages show, also for our neighbors, and yes, even our
enemies]. God
gave us his Son so that we could be saved, so now also that
should be in my heart. I
should be following the example of the Savior, one should
lead me to the other. What he has done for me should now lead
me to do the same for the others, those around me. And
now John goes very clear into detail. ‘This is what I mean,’ he
says. Now, somebody around you, a brother’s
in need, and you have the means, and you see the need, but
you don’t do anything about it. You
have the means, you have the time, you have the resources,
but you don’t do anything about it. In fact, he says, ‘he shuts up his
heart’, the King James says “he shuts up the
bowels of his compassion”, I look and there’s
a brother in need. I
say, ‘Oh well, and I move on.’ He
says ‘How can the love of God abide in that person.’ When
Jesus came and died for the sins of the world, he died for
me, and I have Christ in my heart, how could I just go along
and see a need, and not do anything about it if I have the
means to do it? Now
he’s not referring to those times when we don’t
have the means, your bank account is dry, you don’t
have the means. Or
you don’t have the time, you’re not able to. There’s times we’re not able
to. But he’s referring to when you genuinely
do have the opportunity, it’s there before you. And
let’s just face it, we have lots of opportunity, but
you just go along and you don’t do anything. He
says, ‘Wait a minute, how can Jesus be in you? Look
at Jesus, what he does. And
yet you just walk on by?’ It
sounds to me, that’s also like what Jesus addressed
in the Pharisees. Right? He
gave that parable of the good Samaritan, he says ‘You
guys say you’re all religious and you love God. Let
me give you a
story.’ In fact, somebody had even asked him,
you know,
‘What must I do to be saved? He
said, ‘Love God with all your heart, and love your
neighbor.’ And the guy says, ‘Well, I’ve
been real good at being spiritual, what do you mean by loving
my neighbor?’ And then I’m sure he was pretty
humbled when Jesus said ‘This is what I mean.’ There’s
this guy, got beat up, lying there on the road, and this
religious leader comes walking by, and what does the religious
leader do? He crosses to the other side of the road. This
spiritual man, ignores the need. Then
he refers to another scribe, another Levite, walks by and
does exactly the same thing. And then he says there was this Samaritan. Of course, in the eye a Jew a Samaritan
was like a half-breed. [Or
worse, since the Assyrians, when they deported the real 10
northern tribes of Israel, they replaced them with pagans
from the area of the Caspian Sea where the Israelites were
now deported to. The
Jews new this. Many
of these new arrivals had given Ezra and Nehemiah such a
hard time when they were trying to rebuilt the temple and
the wall around Jerusalem. So
animosities went back as far as Ezra and Nehemiah.] They were disdained. So the Samaritan comes along, comes over,
takes care of him, takes him to a hotel, takes care of his
needs. And Jesus says to them, ‘So, who
was the neighbor?’ The
guy says, ‘Oh, ouch.’ And
that’s what John is saying here. [cf.
James 2:14-16 says the same thing, “What doth it profit,
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not
works? Can faith
save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute
of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace,
be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not
those things which are needful to the body: what doth it
profit?”] If
you say you have Christ in your heart, if Jesus, is really
in you, and you really are religious [in the right sense],
you’ve got to reach out to others in love, and you’re
going to minister. Now
when he says “brother” here, we need to go a
little bit further. When
he says “brother” [King James “brethren”]
here, he’s not referring to somebody I just naturally
like, he’s not referring to somebody in the church
I’m just buddy-buddy with, he’s not referring
to a family member. In
fact, the word he uses means “a neighbor”, it
means somebody on the street. But
it also means somebody who’s not very lovable to you,
somebody you just wouldn’t be naturally attracted to. He
says, when you see someone like that, and if it’s in
your heart ‘Oh man, that poor orphan, that poor person,
they’re suffering’, and you begin to reach out
to them. That’s because the love of Christ
is in your heart. But
if it isn’t, then there’s something going on,
something going on. You
know, Jesus said in Matthew 25 in that parable again, he
says, the people will say ‘When did we love you?’ and
he said, ‘When you did it to the least of these, that
least of these.’ That’s
what John is saying, the same thing here. I
think too of this story of a soldier. It’s
been awhile since I heard this story. But
the sense of the story, this soldier was in bitter winter,
came along and saw a beggar, and as he saw the beggar asking
for help, he didn’t have any money, didn’t have
any food to give him. And
maybe in the story, he began to walk off, I forget. He
comes back, he’s a Christian man, has a love for this
individual, he suffering, there in the cold, this beggar. So
he took off his Roman uniform, his Roman coat there, and
he ripped it in half, and gave half to the beggar and he
went off with half a coat. How warm are you going to keep yourself
with half a coat. But
that’s the heart of what he’s saying here. It’s
the love of God, it’s just wanting to love people and
reach out and make a difference. Man, if that’s in your heart, man. Well, he goes on and gives a little bit
more of what that means.
“Little children, let us not love in
word, neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth” (verse
18). “Little children, let us not
love, just professing the word, saying that you’re
religious, but in deed and in truth. Let
us just not love in tongue.” Tongue
is opposite of the truth, is what he says here, tongue
is just professing it, but it’s insincere. Truth is, ‘Look at my life, I love
in truth, I love in deed and I love in truth.’ He
says “Let us love in deed and in truth.” Verse
19, “By this we know that we are of the truth, and
shall assure our hearts before him.” See, I come to the Lord. And he says “we know” and
that word is experientially. I know I’m
a Christian, I know I’m
a child of God. You
know, I reached out to that individual, and it was a blast. I
love to be a blessing to people. I
love to reach out to people that even don’t like
me. There’s
just love in my heart for other people. He says “By this we then know that
we are of the truth, and we shall assure our hearts when
we come before God.” We have that same sense, ‘I am a
child of God, there’s no question. I’ve
been loving, Lord. And
that’s what you are and that’s what you do,
clearly you’re working in me.’ “So by this we know that we are
of the truth, and there is an assurance in our heart....”
“For if our heart condemn
us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things”
Now
what does he mean in verse
20,
“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than
our heart, and knows all things.” He
talks about having confidence before God, but yet if you
come to God and there’s condemnation, he says God
is greater than our heart, and knows all things. What does he mean? This verse is debated by many. You look at all the old commentaries,
I’ve got a lot of them, a lot of the old commentaries
say ‘If my heart condemns us, I can be sure that
God knows my heart even more, and God’s going
‘You, you’re out of line.’ And it may mean that, but it also might
mean it another way. And
I kind of lean to the other side. Certainly
God knows my heart more than I do, but God is also a God
of infinite love and infinite grace, and there is often times
as a Christian, you know, I’ve been loving people,
sure, but there’s times I haven’t been, there’s
times I’ve been struggling, and I come now before the
Lord in prayer, and instantly, the first thing that comes
to my mind is ‘I did this’, or ‘I experienced
this’, or ‘I didn’t do this.’ And
there’s that sense, ‘Oh, man I can’t even
pray, man.’ I
just have that condemnation in my heart. But
John says God is greater than our heart, God’s above
feelings, apart from that he’s a God of infinite love
and grace. If
I confess my sins he will forgive me, and I have every basis
as a child of God to stand before God at any time and say “God,
I need you. Here’s what’s on my heart,
Lord.” So there are times, maybe you’re
even struggling with prayer in the sense of condemnation
in your heart. But God is greater than your heart, man,
and he wants you to come, he wants you to talk to him. He wants you to get your heart right with
him.
A great promise---if we’re
right with God
Verses
21-23, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence towards God, and whatever we ask we
receive from him because we keep his commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should
believe on the name of the Son Jesus Christ, and love one
another, as he gave us commandment.” Now
he says, ‘If our heart doesn’t condemn us,
we have confidence toward God,’ and not only that,
when you have confidence toward God, in verse 22, when
you come to him in prayer, man, you just ask in such a
way in faith that your prayer-life isn’t being hindered. He’s
essentially saying that when I love, when
I live as Christ lived, man it means for effective prayer. A holy life, a loving life, means for
effective prayer. When
I love my brethren, it does help my prayer-life. If
I don’t love my brethren, I struggle now in prayer,
I know I haven’t been doing the things I should be
doing, there’s a struggle in prayer, less of a confidence
and faith in prayer. You
know the Psalmist in Psalm 66:18 said “If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Peter
said to the husbands, “Husbands, love your wives,
dwell with them in understanding, that your prayers may
not be hindered.” [To
“dwell with them in understanding” means having
a good understanding of how the marital relationship works,
which most men don’t have, Christian and non-Christian
alike. Not sure
yourself? Check
out http://www.HOWMARRIAGEWORKS.COM.] If I come before the Lord and have not
been loving my brother or my wife or another individual,
it does effect my prayer-life. Jesus
said if you come to the altar to offer your sacrifice, and
somebody has something against you, go and make it right
with him, and then offer your sacrifice. So yes, the way I view others does effect
my prayer-life. If
I’m loving, man, I can be confident in prayer. There’s
a beautiful word in here, “Whatever
we ask we receive from him”, that word “from” is
the word preposition para,
and it means “nearby”. And
what is meant there, he’s giving a picture, it’s
the idea of somebody being so near to God, that whatever
you desire is so in tune with his heart, that you can ask
and ask and it will be done. That
word “from” in our English doesn’t come
out like that. The
word para in the
Greek means,
‘I’ll receive from him, I’m so close to
him that he’ll hear, we’re so in tune, so connected,
our hearts are so in communion.’ So
it is true, when I have fellowship with God, closeness, my
heart is in tune with his, I can just keep asking God to
just do that, I’m going to ask what delights him, what
pleases him, I’m going to ask according to his will. Well,
finally as we end our time in this study, he says “This
is the commandment, That we should believe on the name of
his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment” (verse 23). When he says “believe” the
Greek refers, it’s in the subjective tense, it means
that initial time of believing, the time that you received
Messiah as your Lord and Savior, and this is his commandment,
that we should believe, just turn to Jesus and receive him
as our Savior, and that we should also love one another. And
that is in the tense in the Greek, that it means to continue
to love. So,
we’re reminded to love, really as a Christian is to
obey simply as a commandment to the Word. You know, I was preparing this study,
and I have this book of illustrations, and once in a while
I’ll go to it. I’m thinking, ‘I’d like
a little story, this would help convey this truth. Right
now I can’t think of a story.’ There’s
a number of books, but I have one book that a lot of pastors
have, it’s filled with nearly 8,000 stories. So
you wonder where I get some of my stories once in a while,
I’ve got this book. If it isn’t in the paper or my experience,
and I need something I’ll look [in this book] for a
story. Well I was, it’s all organized, this
book and I was looking under the heading of love, and this
little heading popped out at me. It
said “Verse by verse teaching” and something
else, and it was under the subject of love. And I said ‘What’s this?’. So I went to the illustration in this
book and found it, and
don’t you know, it was a story written nine years after
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa got going. And it’s about this church, Costa
Mesa California, Calvary Chapel, that in nine years at this
time had gone from just as few to 15,000. And
it talks about Chuck Smith teaching expository, and it’s
a whole page right, I didn’t copy it, but of all the
different things that were going on in only nine years. But in the story was noted “verse
by verse teaching”, but people come because they feel
and sense the love of God.” Talking about four or five thousand people
coming at night to hear the Word of God and listening to
long sermons like you just did, because it’s verse
by verse, and because they sense the love of God. And
I pray, as we just study the Word….this church in
this community, man people love people there, and you ought
to check it out, you ought to check it out. Let’s close in prayer.” [a
sermon transcript of a congregation somewhere in New England.]
I
have a better story for you about the kind of love the apostle
John is trying to convey. It explains how we are to love our brethren,
neighbors, and yes even enemies. The
early Judeo-Christians under Polycarp had a royal chance
to practice just what John had taught them in these verses
we just studied. This love is such an essential part of
true Christianity. Opportunities
to love in such a way can occur for us in individual ways,
but sometimes they can occur for the whole church. This
actually happened twice for the early Judeo-Christian
churches in Asia Minor, church congregations that actually
had members who remembered hearing John say these things,
or had leaders who were trained by John or his disciple Polycarp.
Not much in history can top this story. To read this true story log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/LegacyOfLove.htm . This
story will amaze you. But it truly demonstrates the love of
God within early Christians, a love that was put into action,
it wasn’t lip service. There
was only one way this kind of love could have been put into
action, it had to be within these people in the first place,
indwelling them through the Holy Spirit. Be sure to log on and read about it. This story gives true meaning and perspective
to John’s words, which are the words also of Jesus
Christ, “Love one another.”
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