Turn with me to 1 John. 1 John, our reading tonight, beginning at chapter 2, verse 29, through chapter 3. And the text for our consideration being chapter 3, verses 11-18. 11-18 of 1 John, chapter 3. Beginning in verse 29 of chapter 2. Hear now the Word of God. If you know that He is righteous, I know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that we will not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be and what is not yet made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appears so that He might take away our sin. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you as one may. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in him and he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. In verses 11-18 again in the text, this is the message you heard from the beginning. We should love one another. Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, How can the love of God be in Him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. This, then, is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command, to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. Those who obey His commands live in Him and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us. We know it by the Spirit He gave us. Dear people of God, as we turn our attention back to the study of 1 John, which we began, of course, some time ago and took quite a lengthy break from, we now need to dig into the files of our memory and recall what John has been teaching. John is very clear, you recall, I trust, that we live in the midst of an antithesis. There are only two sides in the world that are extreme opposites. There is light versus dark, truth versus the lie, love versus hate, life versus death, God versus Satan, those in opposition to each other. Of course, light and truth and love and life belong together and are the things of God, whereas dark and the lie and hate go together and are the things of Satan. And all of mankind stands on one side or the other. There's no sitting on the fence here. Either you enjoy the things of God by the grace of God, or you are bound to the things of Satan because of your sin and misery. And John stresses that those who are in the light of God's love by His grace will then give evidence of that by walking in the light. And he gets more specific as he talks about walking as Jesus walked and doing the will of God by obeying His commandments. In fact, he boldly states the truth of the matter in chapter 3, verse 10, when he says, This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God. Black and white. Plain and simple. True children of God live righteously. It doesn't say perfectly, but live righteously under the influence of the Holy Spirit because of new birth. But then in the second half of verse 10, John comes back to something he had introduced earlier, as he now adds, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. One who does not love his brother also is not a child of God. Again, black and white. Plain and simple. John is talking about the context of the church now as he focuses on the believer's love. And his teaching in the text before us is about life in the church compared to life in the world. And in this text, John teaches about the love of the church in a world that hates. And as we consider this Word of God, notice first of all the first imperative of love. Now boys and girls, imperative simply means command. Command. Verse 11 says, This is the message you heard from the beginning. We should love one another. Now John is not saying that this is something that the believer should take a little bit of time to consider as if loving the fellow believer is an option. That's not what he is saying. This is the old command that He spoke of in chapter 2, verse 7, which is also the new command. And also, this is the command that Jesus Himself gave in John 13, verses 34 and 35. He says, A new command I give you, and I love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another. The love of Christians for Christians is a feature, a characteristic of the lives of God's children. A characteristic that is fundamental and indispensable. We might even say that that is a natural outflow of the born-again heart. Yet it is also commanded because we must exercise love. And sometimes we might not feel like exercising that love. And John teaches us what love is all about by teaching what it is not. A little bit later on in the text, he gives us the positive example of love, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. But first, he gives us the negative example, which is that of Cain. Possibly a universal knowledge of Cain. John takes his readers back, you see, to the very first murder in history, which clearly points out the two sides that we've been talking about. And also it points out Satan's attack against Christ's church. Again, verse 12, do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. See, John points out here that Cain brutally slaughtered his brother. That's the idea of the word we have heard here. Brutally slaughtered. It was a violent killing. It was not an accident. Cain meant to do exactly what he did. And the reason that Cain killed Abel was because Cain belonged to the evil one. Now, we know that man can only act in a way that is consistent with his nature in a way that follows the direction of his heart. Cain belonged to the evil one. His heart belonged to the devil and therefore he could only do that which was evil in the sight of God. And that's why his sacrifice was not accepted by God. You know, we speak of total depravity and also there is what is called absolute depravity. Total depravity, of course, is the fact that everything about us, thoughts, words, actions, motives, everything is saturated with sin. Every part of our being is sinful. Absolute depravity means that one is absolutely as sinful and wicked as that one can be all the time. And it may sound like we're talking about absolute depravity here. We're not. It's only by God's common favor or common benevolence or common grace that man is not absolutely depraved and wicked as he can be all the time. But like me, maybe you have always wondered about that episode in Genesis 4 where we are told what the different offerings were from Cain and Abel. And then it says, the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was looking angry and his face was downcast. And then the Lord tells Cain, if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? Now, it may be difficult for us to say exactly what was wrong with Cain's physical offering, but it seems clear that his heart was not right with God. His offering was not intended to please God as much as it was for his own selfish purpose. And Cain was then envious or jealous of Abel, not that he coveted Abel's offering, but Cain resented Abel's righteousness. And therefore, Cain acted toward Abel again in a way that is consistent with Cain's father. Jesus says in John 8, verse 44, you belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. Cain carried out the will of his father the devil and murdered his brother Abel because he hated Abel's righteousness. And when one hates something, that one desires to get rid of that something. Now it seems clear that from the context of John's teaching in this epistle that Cain represents hate, death, lie, and walking in darkness. And therefore, Cain represents the devil. And Abel represents love, life, the truth. and walking in the light, and there he represents the grace of God. But Cain also represents something else. He represents the world. And I'm not talking about the world that God so loved. His created world and His world of believers. But I'm talking about the wicked world, the world of evil over which Satan is the prince. This is the world that John speaks of in chapter 2, verse 15, of which he says, Do not love the world or anything in the world. And Abel also represents something else. He represents the church of Jesus Christ. And therefore, John quickly added that the world acts the same way toward the church as Cain acted toward Abel. Verse 13, Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. Now we need to understand that the reason the world hates believers in the church is not because there is something hateful about us, something that ought to be hated. In other words, the hatred of the world is not justified in any way, shape, or form. John says in chapter 4, verse 19, we love because He first loved us. The world of wickedness has not known the love of God and therefore cannot forgive. The world does not know what love is. It does not know, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, of which we sang earlier, that love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rooted, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily entered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always hopes, always perseveres. The world only knows and exercises the complete opposite of all of this, which characterizes hate. Hate is not patient. Hate is not kind. Hate envies. Hate is proud. Hate is rude. Hate is self-speaking. Hate is easily angered. Hate keeps a record of wrongs. Hate delights in evil, but does not rejoice in the truth. Hate does not protect. It does not trust. It does not hope. It does not persevere. What is it that the world hates about believers and the church of Christ. Well, we might, first of all, wonder why would the world hate the church anyway? After all, aren't we as believers good for society? We respect authority. We pay our bills. We are good, honest, hard-working employees and fair employers. We provide help for the needy and we love to others. We're good citizens, right? If it weren't for Christians, there would be a whole lot more lying, cheating, and stealing going on, right? Now, beloved, hopefully all of this is true, at least to some extent. But unless we should adopt a better-than-the-world attitude, we need to recognize our sin in these areas and confess that we have all been outdone at times by those who did not confess the name of Christ. And if we can claim any of these merits, it's only by the grace of God. And to be sure, understand, beloved, the world does not hate the good that believers provide for them. In other words, the people of the world don't hate that which is to their benefit, that which they can use that believers provide. What the world hates is the righteousness of the believer and the confession of the church. The world hates the fact that believers are not like the white world. We serve a different king. We obey different kingdom rules. And although the world would be quick to take advantage of the love of Christians, yet the world despises that love and despises the foundation of that love. Jesus says in John 15, verses 18-20, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember you. The words I spoke to you, no servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. The world hates Christians because they are of God and belong to the very Savior the world rejects and doesn't think that she needs. You see, beloved, darkness cannot tolerate light. Immorality cannot tolerate morality. Hate cannot tolerate love. Greed cannot tolerate sacrifice. And we could go on and on. The world cannot understand nor tolerate the idea of giving up control of oneself and submitting in faith to a God who ignores all things, plans all things, and directs all things. But at the same time, the world doesn't see that it is not free, but is indeed a slave to the evil one. And just as light exposes the secrets of darkness and truth exposes the lie, the righteousness of the child of God exposes and is a condemnation against the unrighteousness of the believer. that which is good or right always exposes that which is wrong and condemns that which is wrong. A bit of an example. Every Sunday as we pull into the parking lot here and as we gather together for worship, those very actions, whether they are well meant in our hearts or not, those very actions testify against the neighbors around us who may witness that. They testify, in effect, say to them that as long as they reject Jesus Christ, they are going to hell. The very gathering together of God to get people to worship the Almighty God testifies that against those who fail, who reject Him. As Christians, we know the world hates us. Or we should know. We should feel that pressure. We sense that in our jobs when cutting remarks are made about our church attendance or when others take the Lord's name in vain on purpose, intentionally, in our very presence. And we present many things. Lately in our own San Diego area, I've been reminded maybe you have two of the world's hails. Maybe you haven't thought about it that way, but as we have been reminded in an example about the 12-year-old dispute with regard to that 43-foot tall cross monument on Mount Soledad. And those say it doesn't belong there. It's an offense. It shouldn't be out in public. And also, with regard to the Lacey Peterson case, the abortion rights activists are fighting to keep the baby from being considered a baby. A human being. Which, of course, then makes the crime not quite as horrendous. All for the sake of their rights. And all of this, beloved, to lash out against the truth of God. Opposite the hate of the world. God's people are commanded to love. And as the text makes clear, love is proof of something wonderful. Verses 14 and 15. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. Now we need to understand first of all, beloved, that John does not say, he is not saying here, That we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. That our love is the cause that we have passed from death to life. That's not what John is saying. What he is saying is that love for our brothers is to be evidence to ourselves and the church and also assurance for us of God's grace of new life. Of God's grace of bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Passing from death and for life, the law is talking about true conversion. And the idea is a change in location from the sphere of evil and Satan to the sphere of Christ and righteousness. Jesus speaks of this in John 5, verse 24. He says, I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life. Now, by nature, one is dead spiritually. By nature, every one of us is a children of wrath and an heir, an inheritor of death. By nature, all men do not know God and are outside of the life of God and have no fellowship with Him and live life completely apart from Him. And those who are spiritually dead are dead too and have no regard for spiritual things. They don't even understand the value of the human soul. they're not aware of the nature of sin and evil and they are completely blinded by the devil they hate God they hate what is good they are self-centered, selfish and they follow their own self-will there's no true love in them only hate which makes the one who is dead a murderer and that one is completely without eternal life and in sight that will suffer eternal punishment death and punishment and the wrath of God in hell. That's each one of us apart from Jesus Christ. But those who know by the grace of God, those who know what love is through Christ, who lay down His life, have passed from death to life. They enjoy regeneration, conversion, justification, and ongoing sanctification. They own, they possess as their very own that living hope. That life knows God. It believes in Him. It trusts Him. It desires to live for Him. That life is the life of Christ sitting in me. And that life is eternal. And what is proof of this? The proof is believers love their brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, of course, this is not to exclude the proof of truth in Jesus Christ and belief in the Word of God because love flows from faith. Again, because Christ first loved us. But evidence of being loved by Christ is loving in return. Him first of all. And then our fellow believers. We also need to understand that this is not talking, John is not talking here about the second great commandment to love our neighbor as ourself. And he's also not talking against it. He's talking about something different. We are called to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We are to have a love for their soul and a desire for the salvation of their soul. But John is talking specifically here about those who share the family resemblance. Those who are in the family of God. This doesn't mean that we, even as brothers and sisters in Christ, will always like everything about each other. We don't. We may not always share the same opinions. We might have habits or traits that drive each other crazy. We might have personalities that clash. Yet we love each other in Jesus Christ and that is a far out of faith and overlooks the things that we must not like about each other. We love each other because of Him who first loved us and who lives in our hearts. And as a people of God, as a family of God, we share the same spiritual interests. Like the desire to be nourished by the Word of God. The desire to spread His Word. The desire to glorify God. We share the same joy of the Lord, which is our strength. We love the same church of Christ and we are headed to the same heavenly home and all of this by the grace of God. Congregation, Scripture, and especially the New Testament points out that love is a most excellent, the most excellent Christian virtue. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit listed in that litany of fruits in Galatians. As well, in Galatians 5 or 6, it teaches that love is a sign of the reality of faith. It is a sign that faith is real. And again, turning to 1 Corinthians 13, it teaches that love is the greatest of those three abiding Christian graces. Faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love. You see, our faith will become sight. Our hope will become a full reality. But God's people will live in the midst of His love forever. And very simply, as verse 14 clearly teaches, anyone who does not love remains in death. That is, remains in the evil one. Remains outside of Christ Jesus. God's people are called to live in a way that is antithetical to the world. The world hates, but Christians are to love. And again, we have been given the perfect pattern of love. Verses 16-18 This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be loved in him? Dear children, Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. Now, in many respects, I trust that these verses are understandable for us, even for the younger children here. We can understand what John is saying here. And John, of course, echoes the words of Jesus in John 15, verses 12 and 13. My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Now, we know, of course, that not many, not if any of us, will ever be called upon to die for the sake of Christ, the sake of the Gospel, or for a fellow believer. And even if we would have to give our life to our brother or sister or Christ, we must always remember that our death on their behalf, there could never and would never have the same eternal life-saving effect as Christ's death for us. But that's the point here. The point is sacrifice. But the point is considering others' interests as more important than our own. Yes, if we are called upon to give up this life for another, we must be willing and ready to do that. You see, the character of Christian love is so far away from murder that the essence of that love is giving one's life for others rather than taking lives. And beloved, even though we may never be called upon to give up our lives for a brother or sister, we can give up our livelihood for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm afraid that many of us, or at least I, must be convicted here. Often, we are more inclined to help complete strangers, those who may or may not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, that's not wrong. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that. But the problem is, we turn around and sit in judgment over our brothers and sisters in need who are near to us and even at times making excuses for them as to why they are in need. Our attitude is often, will they spend foolishly or will they live outside their means? And yeah, that may all be true. But we are called to love them in Christ Jesus and to help them. And maybe that help means helping them learn how to budget or something of that nature. But our job is not to criticize and not to turn our backs on and not to ignore them. Those who do not feel pity in the pit of their stomach for their brothers and sisters in need give evidence of not being a part of the family. True love is moved with compassion and a desire to help each other, help another out of their misery. That hate is negative. Hate seeks to harm another and works against that one even to the point of murder. But love is positive and seeks the good of the other and acts on behalf of that other even to the point of self-sacrifice. God has blessed some with material wealth to help those whom God has chosen to be without. And those with much are to be gracious givers. And at the same token, those with little are to be gracious receivers. You see, family cares for family. We all know that. But do we also understand that the family of God cares for the family of God? The early New Testament church was a wonderful example of this. You remember the episode of Ananias and Sapphira and what led up to that. The fact that they were selling their goods and their property, giving it into a common pot, if you will. And beloved, talk is cheap. That's what John says. The words that roll off our tongues mean absolutely nothing without actions to support those words. James echoes this and really says it beautifully. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, Go! I wish you well. I wish you well. I will keep warm and be well fed. But does nothing about his physical needs. What good is it? One definition of love says this. It is the willingness to surrender that which has value for our own life to enrich the life of another. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ not only has not enriched our lives with heavenly riches by His death, but He gave us the very new life that we enjoy in Him even today. And His love and His soul that as Paul says, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death. His death. Our life. What a wondrous exchange. And it is our blessed privilege, congregation, to demonstrate the love of Christ to His people. And may it be, as those who profess to be in the love of Christ, that we would give evidence of that, of being in the love of Christ. That we would give evidence of that for God's glory by generously spreading the love of Christ. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we bow before You at the close of this preaching and hearing of Your Word. And we are reminded of Your great love for us. And we stand amazed when we consider that great love, that love poured out upon us through our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice. Lord God, we pray that indeed You would give that love to us to share. That we might indeed share it with each other. Indeed, Lord, we are called upon to love our neighbor as ourself. But help us to remember that it remains in here in the family of God. And may our love for one another in Christ Jesus grow more and more every day that we might be able to overlook the things that might irritate us about one another. And over our disagreements, the love of Christ would indeed conquer all things. that You would indeed be glorified and praised by all of that. Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word. We thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for the Spirit of God who works in our hearts moment by moment. Continue to prepare us, O Lord, for that day when we look forward to being with You forever and ever around Your throne of grace. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen. Thank you.