If you have a copy of the scriptures this morning, let me invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of 1 John. Once again, 1 John and the third chapter. And this morning, God willing, we'll be looking at verses 7 through 17 as we continue this ongoing exposition through John's first general epistle. 1 John 3, verses 7 through 17. Let me invite you as you're able. Let's stand in honor of the reading and the hearing of God's word. The apostle John writes, little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. 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 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 May God bless today, once again, the reading and the hearing of his word. Let us join in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, as we have the opportunity again to hear of the trumpet of thy word as it sounds forth, And as it runs to and fro throughout the whole world as the Word is being preached today, Lord, give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, give us minds to comprehend. We ask this in Christ's name and for His sake. Amen. You may be seated. Well, we are returning this morning to our exposition of the book of 1 John. You know, on a day like this, sometimes I'll take a departure, take an explicit narrative account of the resurrection, let's say, from the Gospels. But on this Lord's Day, I thought that we'd just continue our series through 1 John. But, of course, any time you're in the Bible, any time you're in a text of Scripture, at the core, there's going to be references direct or indirect to the cross and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to see if you can pick up on today the hints, the overtones of the knowledge of the living Lord, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, as we've noted, is addressing a group of people in this letter. who had likely come to the faith under his personal ministry. He had been the one who had shared Christ with them. And so punctuating this narrative again and again, he refers to them as my children or little children. And so he's speaking to them with fatherly affection. And he knows that they've been through difficulties. Any father in this room worth his salt knows that when one of your children struggles, you struggle alongside of them. And so he knows that they've struggled. And what have they struggled with? Well, he's mentioned back in chapter two and verse 18 and chapter two, verse 22, the Antichrist. false teachers who have infiltrated this church. And they've sown discord by putting forward false teachings. We'll see this later when we turn to 1 John 4. Some of them had denied that Christ had come in the flesh, that he was a true man. And this had led to, as we've noted a number of times now, a schism in this body. Chapter 2, verse 19, they went out from us because they were not of us. And not only have there been these sort of difficulties, these things that have been discouragements to these Christians to whom the apostle is writing, but there have also been misunderstandings about what we might call sanctification. Misunderstandings about sanctification. We talked about this last week. On one hand, there have been some people who have underestimated the reality of the remaining corruptions that are within them. in this age, before the second coming of Christ. And they had embraced a position that we call perfectionism. They had come to the idea that, oh, we can live a life without sin. We can live a sinless life. And a number of times we look back at 1 John 1, verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 10 of chapter 1, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. And so on one hand, he's correcting some people who had too low a view of the reality of the remaining corruptions within them. On the other hand, as I pointed out last week, and especially here in chapter 3, he's addressing those who have a kind of an opposite tendency, and that is they had They had underestimated the reality of the Holy Spirit's unction or anointing of them that allows them to live godly lives in this present age, to do righteous things and things that are pleasing in God's sight. And they had forgotten that their lives are joined He stresses that, we noticed like in verse 5 of chapter 3 last week, when it says of Christ that He was manifested to take away our sins and in Him is no sin. And some of these people who felt so defeated by the remaining corruptions, They had not placed enough emphasis on the fact that Christ had saved them from their sins and that though they still had remaining corruption within them, Christ is without sin. They had focused more on their corruptions than upon Christ's purity. I think we've all known, and some of us ourselves have done this, there are times in most Christians' lives where they struggle with their remaining corruptions. And they begin to think more about their remaining corruptions than they do think about the purity and perfection of Christ. As if our salvation depended on us, right? It doesn't depend upon us, it depends on the sinless life of Christ. That doesn't mean though that there shouldn't flow out of the redeemed believer a life of holiness. In 1 John, especially in chapter three, I think John is especially exhorting those latter kinds of believers, those who feel like they are such failures. Perhaps some of them were tempted to give up. Some of them are prone perhaps to despair, despondency. Some of them were questioning whether they were even converted. And as we'll see, John will provide another test of assurance in verse 14 of this passage to see if one is in the faith. Well, there are a number of themes in our passage today that we've already encountered in the book of 1 John. And John is a great teacher, and great teachers all know the importance of repetition. You say something, then you say it again, slightly different way, then you say it again. Repetition is the mother of learning, and that's the old Latin phrase, and so John is going to repeat many of the themes that we've already encountered. But there are two themes I think that John is stressing overall in our passage today, and I'd like to give the most attention to them. The first theme that I think he's giving stress to is the theme of reminding believers that Christ is already the victor. That Christ has already destroyed the works of the devil. And he is continuing to destroy the devil's works. He is the destroyer, and he has destroyed, and he is destroying. the works of the devil. Yes, Christ's death upon the cross, he says, it is finished, it's a finished work. And so the ultimate victory has been attained, but we know that there's still a battle on the ground. So Christ has won and he is winning. And in the future, when he returns in power and glory, he will win. So he is destroyed, he is destroying, and he will destroy all the works and the acts of the devil. That's the first theme. The second theme that I think we can see in this passage is that one of the ways that believers manifest or show outwardly Christ's victory, and especially his victory in us, is by the fact that we live righteous lives, including especially the way we love and care for our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. The first theme is Christ has destroyed the devil in all of his works. The second theme is We show that that victory is a reality by the transformation and the changes in the way that we live. So with that, let's turn to our passage so we can walk through it. And I wanna suggest that we can divide our passage today into two parts along the lines of these two themes. First of all, in verses seven through 10, I think the focus is upon Christ's destruction of the works of the devil. And then secondly, in verses 11 through 17, the focus is on the believers' love for the brethren, which is an emblem of the fact that there's been a victory of Christ in our lives. It's evident in our lives. So let's begin looking at the first part, verses 7 through 10, Christ's destruction of the works of the devil. Notice again in chapter 3, verse 7, that John begins addressing these believers whom he has been a shepherd to, a father to, to bring them to the faith. And what does he call them in verse 7? Little children. Little children. And, again, this sort of punctuates the narrative. We've pointed to it a number of times. It starts back in chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things write I unto you. And so that's where it begins, and then it shows up throughout the letter. Chapter 2, verse 12, I write unto you, little children. Verse 18, little children, it is the last time. Verse 28 of chapter 2, and now little children abide in him. And here yet again in chapter 3 verse 7, little children, In fact, you can make the argument that all of 1 John is just a series of these exhortations that he gives to them. Little children, do this. Little children, do that. Little children, avoid this. Little children, avoid that. And you'll notice, by the way, when we get to verse 18, why don't we stop today at verse 17? Because verse 18 begins a new chapter of this teaching, where he says, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And so we can see verses 7 through 17 sort of stand together. It's kind of a long passage to look at, but I think the teaching stands together because it's one sort of section of this exhortation that's being aimed at the believers. He continues then in verse 7, he says, little children, let no man deceive you. John had served, by God's grace, as a true spiritual father to these believers, but false fathers, false teachers, anti-Christ, had crept in and they had attempted to confuse them. They had denied that the Lord Jesus is the Christ. Look at chapter two, verse 22. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist that denieth the father and the son. And so there had been these false fathers who had come in. And so John, one of the themes of 1 John in general we see is gonna be discernment. Christian don't believe everything that is told you by some talking head on YouTube. Someone who says, I speak on behalf of Christianity, or I speak on behalf of the church. Friends, let no man deceive you. And this is, again, a theme. This is why he had talked in chapter two about the unction of the Holy Spirit, and why he had said in verse 27, ye need not that any man teach you. Don't let any human being presume to change or alter what has been given by the real teacher, your real father, the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit is instructing you, whether that's the Spirit-inspired scriptures, twisting the Spirit-inspired scriptures, or in this case, in the first century, those who were denying the teaching of the Spirit directed apostles. And so there's a warning here about discernment. Let no man deceive you. And apparently part of that deception had been perhaps it doesn't matter how you live. It doesn't matter if you try to live a godly life, try to do righteous things. And so he's going to address that in verse seven. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. And so he's exhorting them to live righteous lives. This really follows up on what was said at the very end of chapter two. Look at chapter two, verse 29. If you know that he, meaning Christ, is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. You show that you were born again by your desire to do what is righteous. You want to reflect the righteousness of Christ. And again, it's stressing who is the one who is really righteous? Well, it's Christ. Go all the way back again to chapter two, verse one. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Because Christ is righteous and because we want to follow Christ, we want to do that which is righteous in His sight. The believer does not do, however, righteous deeds in order to be saved. He does righteous deeds because he is saved. It's a really important distinction. The believer doesn't do righteous deeds in order to be saved. He does righteous deeds because he is saved. That's one of the most important distinctions that can be made. And it's a distinction that is most often misunderstood, especially by non-Christians, right? Because they think Christianity is all about people trying to do good and do the right things. We try to do good and try to do right things, not because that will make us to become Christians, but we try to do good and righteous things because we are Christians. Because our lives have been changed by Christ, the righteous one. Again, Christians do not do right deeds in order to become Christians. They do right deeds because they are Christians. And this sets the table for a series of teachings now in verses 8 through 10 that is based on a contrast between, on one hand, unregenerate or unsaved or lost persons, who are outside of Christ and whose whole orientation in life is toward rebellion against God and against Christ, those persons on one hand, and on the other hand, those who are regenerate, those who are saved, those who have been found by the love of God in Christ, those who are in Christ and whose whole orientation in life is toward obedience in Christ. And so in verse 8, John describes this contrast as between those who are aligned with the devil, the adversary, and those who are aligned by new birth with Christ, the Son of God. And so he says, he that commiteth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And again, this is a, he's gonna set up this contrast, he's gonna pull this all the way through verses eight through 10. Between the unregenerate and the regenerate. And this is a contrast that John the Apostle invented out of thin air. He's drawing here, and we'll see this also all throughout this passage, he's drawing upon the teachings of Christ. And especially in verses eight through 10, he's drawing upon a teaching of Christ that's recorded in John chapter eight. When Christ was opposed by a group of Jews, religious leaders, persons who were opposing him, and in John 8, 44, Christ said to those men, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And here we can, can't we? Here, over here, an echo of that in John's teaching. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. John here declares that the unsaved, the unregenerate man is foundationally aligned with the devil. And he participates in the chief sin, or the king sin, of disobeying the commands of God and rejecting Christ. And so he continues, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. The word for destroy here, if anybody learns Greek, one of the first words you learn is luo. It means to loose or to destroy, to unravel, to unsettle. Why was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil? This language of Christ manifesting himself echoes what was said in verse five. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. He was manifested to take away our sins, verse five. He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. How did he take away our sins? He took away our sins by his death upon the cross. Look back at chapter one, verse seven. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. That's how he took away our sin. Look at chapter two, verse two, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not of ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, for elect persons from all the nations. That's how he took away our sins. I think we could say that he destroyed the works of the devil by redeeming men who were foundationally, fundamentally aligned with the devil, loosing them from that and realigning those men with Christ. And how did he do that? By bringing those who were spiritually dead to life by his resurrection power. As Paul puts it in Romans 4.25, Christ was delivered for our offenses, that's Him taking away our sin on the cross, and was raised again for our justification. We might say that 1 John 3.8 then is actually a resurrection passage. Don't complain to me over lunch, we didn't talk about the resurrection. It's a resurrection passage that just doesn't explicitly mention the word resurrection. When Christ was raised from the dead, he destroyed, he unraveled, he loosed the works of the devil by taking men out of the devil's clutches and putting them in the hands of Christ. He continues, look at verse nine. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, again, there are so many things in this passage where John was an apostle. Remember how this book starts off in 1 John 1.1. That he had seen with his eyes, he had heard with his ears, he had handled the Lord Jesus, the word of God. And so all throughout this passage, he's talking about things he's heard Christ say. And of course, where do we get the whole idea that becoming a Christian is new birth, being born again? Well, it comes from John chapter three, when Christ was talking with a man named Nicodemus. And he said, what do I have to do to enter the kingdom? And Christ said, you must be born again. He said, you mean I need to climb into my mother's womb a second time? No, no, no. except you're born by the Spirit. The Spirit moves where it will, except you were born from above, except you were born again. And so he's picking up that language here, as he says in verse nine, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now that teaching raises something of perhaps a question mark in our minds, because what do you mean that the person who's born again does not commit sin? Obviously, we have to compare and look at the rest of the passage here, the whole of 1 John, all the counsel of God. We've already established that John is not suggesting go back and read again 1st John 1 8 if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us First John 1 verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his work is not in us. How then can he say whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin? How can he say that? Because what he's declaring there is that the person who has been saved by the resurrection power of Christ has fundamentally realigned his life so that he's no longer involved with the rebellion of the devil against God. and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but he has realigned himself with Christ, who is the one who is without sin. And so under those terms, because his whole nature has been renewed and changed despite the remaining corruptions that are within him, he now is aligned with Christ. And so in a sense, he does no longer commit sin. He no longer commits the chief sin. the king sin of rejecting Christ. This is all part of the great dividing of men into one side or the other. There are not many identities, you may assume in this life. There are not many places where one might stand in this life. There are not many positions that one might hold. There are only two identities, two sides, two places, two positions. One is either in Christ or outside of Christ. One must be on one side or the other. And one's position depends on whether one is aligned with the devil. And if so, he is aligned with sin and the commission of it. If not, he is aligned with Christ. He stands with Christ. And so in that sense, he does not sin. John continues, for his seed remaineth in him, the seed of God. Christ remains in him by the Spirit. And he cannot sin because he is born of God. His nature has been transformed. The righteousness of Christ has been manifested to him. And so he has been made righteous despite his remaining corruptions. And at the time of Christ's coming, this will be fully manifested. as all those corruptions are removed. And so John can declare in verse 10, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. This also is taken directly from Christ's words in John 8, 44. Christ said in John 8, 44, that we are not all just by virtue of being human beings, children of God. I've called this Oprah Winfrey theology. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that you're not automatically by birth, by virtue of your humanity, a child of God. You become a child of God by the new birth, by the new humanity, by the transformation of your old life, that is brought to new life in Christ. We are either children of God by the new birth, or we are children of the devil by virtue of the fall. And our alignment on that one side or the other is not determined by our actions in living, but which side we're on is reflected by our actions in living. And so John can conclude at the end of verse 10, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. The way verse 10 concludes is important. What is John driving at? Those who are born again are children of God and not children of the devil. Children of the devil do not do righteousness. They do not live righteously. And as part of that, they do not show love to their brethren. As Christ taught, they do not love their neighbor as themselves. By implication, the children of God are those, on the other hand, who do righteous deeds, who live righteously, who love their brethren, both their fellow men and their neighbors, but also their spiritual brethren, especially their spiritual brethren, their fellow believers. And so this is setting us up for the second part of our text. First part, the stress is, Christ has come. He has taken away our sin. He has destroyed the works of the devil. He has taken those who were spiritually dead and he has given them spiritual life. He has taken those who were the children of the devil and made them children of God. And the evidence of this will be that such persons will live different kinds of lives. They will live lives that are marked by love of righteousness and love of the brethren. And so again, this sets us up for the second half of this, verses 11 through 17. John begins discussion of this second theme in verse 11. He says, for this is the message that she heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. And once again, he's taken us to John 8, verse 44. He's taken us back to John 3, the teaching of the new birth. And he's gonna take us back to the teachings of Christ once again. And we've made this journey before already in this series. He's gonna take us back in verse 11 to John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, which is known as the new commandment. Again, 1 John 3, 11, this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Where is that coming from? That's coming from John 13, 34, where Christ said, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. This is a teaching that John has already stressed. You might remember, if you look back at chapter two, verses eight and following, John wrote, again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shining. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. Talk about another great resurrection passage. It doesn't mean, doesn't mention the word resurrection. Verse eight, the darkness is past and the true light now shining. And if you hate your brother, you're still in the darkness. You're unregenerate. Love your brother and you abide in the light. And again, going back to 1 John 3, 11, here is John stressing this again. Do you say you know Christ? Do you say that your sins have been taken away in Christ? Do you say that Christ has destroyed the works of the devil in you? Is this being shown out in the way that you love one another? In verse 12, he pulls out an Old Testament illustration taken from Genesis 4, the story of the two sons, first sons of Adam and Eve, the brothers Cain and Abel. And Cain is gonna stand here as a prototype for the children of the devil, for the unregenerate. So in verse 12 he says, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, he was a child of the devil, though he was the son, humanly speaking, of Adam and Eve, and slew his brother. Here's an Old Testament negative illustration. Cain attacked and slew his brother just as those who are unregenerate might slander and murder the reputation of their brethren, just as Cain slew righteous Abel. John asks about the motivation in verse 12 of Cain. And wherefore slew he him? Why did Cain rise up against righteous Abel? because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous. John is getting here at the reason why the Christian will often come into conflict with unregenerate men in this world. Why is it? Why do unregenerate men seem to sometimes have an irrational dislike and hatred for believers. Why? Because they'll be hesitant to admit it, but subconsciously it works upon them because they see the desire of believers to be righteous and godly and to live righteous and godly and upright lives and it infuriates them. because they know that their works are evil. Also back at John's Gospel in John 3.19, John said, and this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds John is pointing to a spiritual reality in this fallen world between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. The canes of this world will despise the ables of this world. The unrighteous and the ungodly will hate the righteous and the godly. And so John will continue, look at verse 13. Marvel not, don't be surprised, my brethren, if the world hate you. This is not something John says the believer should be surprised by, he should expect it. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. Verse 14 then provides one of the great scriptural tests of assurance of salvation found in the Bible. And some of you sitting in this room, you've been in discipleship classes that we've taught here at Christ Reformed. And you'll recognize this passage very well because often we're doing discipleship or talking with someone about assurance of salvation. We'll suggest in that teaching that we can apply three scriptural tests of assurance. I have a feeling if we were to quiz a few people in this room, they would be able to list these right now. What are the three scriptural tests of assurance? At least three that we can find in the scriptures. First is one we call the doctrinal test. How do you know if you're a Christian? The first test is, do you say you believe? If I go to someone, I say, are you a Christian? He says, no, of course that person is not a Christian. If I come to that person, I say, do you believe? And he says, yes, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. then that's the doctrinal test. However, there are people who will say that who aren't really believers, right? Matthew 7, Christ said, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, and I'll say to them, depart from me. I never knew you. Maybe a Mormon. He might say, Oh, I believe in Jesus Christ. He's the son of God. But is that really believing in who the biblical Christ is? Again, Paul said, Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So the first test is, do you say you're a Christian? The second test we often provide in this discipleship teaching is what we call the ethical test. Okay, you say that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he's the son of God, Do you desire to follow him? Do you desire to keep his commandments? Has he changed your nature so that you want to do the things that are pleasing to Christ despite the remaining corruptions within you? And the passage we often cite is John 14 verse 15. If he loved me, Keep my commandments. How's the test if someone really loves Christ? They want to keep his commandments. Unbelievers don't have pangs of conscience in that they're not obeying the commands of Christ. But often Christians with sensitive consciences will have those pangs about, am I keeping the commands of Christ? So there's the doctrinal test, do you say you believe? There's the ethical test. Do you desire to keep the commands of Christ? But then thirdly, some of you know this well, we suggest there's what we call the social test. And by the way, these tests come from the Puritans, who use these to ask people to examine themselves as to whether they stand in the faith. The third is the social test. And the social test is this. Do you love the brethren? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? And most especially, do you love your Christian brothers and sisters as Christ has loved you? And what's the proof text we often use? It's 1 John 3, 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Notice, by the way, that the test here is applied both positively and negatively. We know that we have passed from death, spiritual death, the unregenerate state, into life, spiritual life. We have passed into the regenerate state because we have love for our fellow believers. God has given us through Christ a love for our fellow believers. Listen, non-Christians don't have that. Believers have that. And then the test is applied negatively. He that loveth not his brother abideth or remaineth in death. To be filled with hatred for our neighbor and especially for a Christian brother gives evidence that one abides or remains in a spiritual state of death. The apostle continues in verse 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. That's pretty strong language. And this is yet another place where John is drawing upon the teachings of Christ. We've been in John 3. We've been in John 8. And now we're going to go outside the gospel of John. He's bringing to mind here the teachings of Christ on the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, verses 21 and 22, remember Christ said, you have heard that it was said to them of old time, thou shalt not kill. Verse 22 of Matthew 5, Christ said, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Following the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, John suggests an expanded understanding of the sixth commandment. The sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill, is not simply about forbidding the taking of a person's life, as unjust, as sinful, as unrighteous as that might be. But it also applies to being filled with unjust anger and hatred toward him. The person who does this is breaking the sixth commandment and committing the moral equivalent of murder. And notice what he adds there in 1 John 3, 15. And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Now we can understand why the teachings of Christ demand so much. They demand more than we can give, right? That's why we need grace. Have you ever become unjustly angry with someone? Have you ever, has someone ever done something to you and it's made you hate them, dislike them so strongly? You know, if you're a believer, the Holy Spirit is in you and it's not gonna let your conscience rest easy to that. It's gonna keep poking and prodding at you, especially if it's a Christian brother. I'd say friend. You're a child of God now. Things ought to be different. Things ought to have changed. Give evidence that you have moved from darkness into the light. In verse 16 then, John ponders again the love of God in Christ. Remember, that's the way this chapter began. If you look back at chapter three, verse one. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. And now he's coming back to this theme. Look at verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God. This is the way we know the love of God because our lives have been changed because we don't hate our brethren. We understand the love of God has been bestowed upon us and we have been made by grace into the sons of God. Hereby proceed with the love of God because he laid down his life for us. This is yet another place where we can hear an echo of Christ's teachings as recorded in the Gospels. Remember what Christ said in John 15, verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What is John talking about when he says here in 1 John 3, 16, because he laid down his life for us. He's talking about the cross. that on the cross Christ laid down his life for us. Notice the second person plural pronoun here. It's not that he laid down his life for some hypothetical or generic sacrifice. He laid down his life for us, for believers, for the apostle John, for all the Christians to whom John writes, for all those who will come to faith in Christ since the time of John. He laid down His life on the cross for the elect in order to take away our sin, as He puts it in verse 5. He laid down His life for His friends, for His disciples. And this also recalls another teaching of Christ. Not only did He lay down His life, but cannot we remark today that He also took it up again in the resurrection. As he said in John 10, 17, therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Yes, the Romans crucified Christ on the cross and put him to death in one sense, but in another sense, He was the only one who had the power to lay his life down. He laid it down and he also had the power to take it up again. John adds that Christ's sacrifice of himself for his disciples in his atoning death serves as a model for disciples. Look at the end of verse 16. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The term brethren here, I think it's not merely a generic reference to our neighbor, our fellow human beings, but it's a specific reference to our Christian brothers. No, we cannot lay down our lives for the brethren in the way that Christ did. Our deaths would have no atoning significance or any of our righteous deeds or actions, but we can lay down our lives in service to one another. John adds then one more illustration to put an exclamation mark on this teaching in verse 17. But whoso hath his 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? And this is a spiritual question to ask, for every believer to ask for his own edification. If I have the world's goods, I see my brother in need, and I don't have compassion on him, how does the love of God in Christ, how can I say that that love dwells in me? This brings to my mind Christ teaching in Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. And he turns to the sheep and said, I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. I was sick and you visited me. In prison, you visited me and so forth. And they said, when, when did we do that? And he says, whenever you did it to the least of these, my brethren, Likewise, the goats, I was hungry, you didn't feed me. Thirsty, you didn't give me to drink. Sick and in prison, you didn't visit me. They said, when did we fail to do that? He said, when you fail to do it to the least of these, you fail to do it to me. The mark of the fact that we are in Christ, that we are sons of God and not children of the devil is that we're transformed, we're changed in the way we treat other people and especially the way we treat brothers and sisters in Christ. Friends, we've worked through the passage. In the end, we can ask ourselves some spiritual questions. Most foundationally, on which side do I stand? Of which family am I a part? Am I among the children of the devil? Or by God's grace, have I experienced a new birth so that I might be counted among the children of God? Am I still dead in trespasses and sins or have I experienced new life in Christ? Do I perceive that Christ has taken away my sins? Do I perceive that Christ has destroyed the works of the devil in my life? He is destroying them and he will destroy them. Do I perceive that as a believer now, the love of the Father has been bestowed upon me and it's being manifested in my life? Is there evidence that I have moved from death to life? because I love the brethren. And again, that has to be demonstrated, first of all, simply in obeying the basic commands of Christ in the great commandment. Love God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Starts on the simplest level, love for the neighbor, but then it's magnified, especially in love for the brethren. Where do I stand in that? Do I remain harsh, unloving, unfeeling? Last Wednesday, I mentioned the book and I did in the Wednesday study by Pastor Ibrahim Mohamed on witnessing to Muslims. Of course, he's a former Muslim and became a Christian and a pastor. In that book, he wrote the following. He said, I know of an Egyptian. who, when converted, was wondering how he could witness to his unsaved wife. By the grace of the Lord Jesus, he completely changed the way of thinking and how he related to her. In his becoming a new creature in Christ, his wife was amazed by his new conduct of life, service, and love. When she asked him to account for this great change, he told her it was because of a new friend he had met, who now gave him good advice. That's really a wonderful thing, isn't it? Meeting Christ and becoming a Christian, saying, I met a new friend. who has given me some wonderful advice and counsel. I was following some bad advice and counsel, but this new friend has given me some good advice and counsel. He continues telling the story of this Egyptian believer. He said this man's wife insisted then, after seeing his changed behavior, his changed life, she said, who is this friend? Who is this person who has had such an impact and given you this wonderful advice that has so changed your countenance, your actions, your attitudes toward me and those in our household? And of course, it was at that point that he told her that his new friend was the Lord Jesus Christ. And Muhammad reports in the book, she too found the Lord. Friends, two words for us today. Praise God. Christ has destroyed the works of the devil. He's continuing to destroy them to this day, and he will destroy them when he comes again in glory and in power. Secondly, he changes men's lives. He changes their lives, not through their striving, but through new birth, by changing them fundamentally, from the inside out, by regenerating them. Friends, do we acknowledge what God has done in Christ? Have we embraced it? And are we giving evidence of these realities in our living despite our remaining corruptions? Amen. Let me invite you to stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we do give thee thanks today for thy word, for the Apostle John, who labored tirelessly to help these little children. And we give thee thanks that by the miracle of the inscripturation of thy word in the Bible, that these instructions are kept for us today so that John can shepherd and father, gives good spiritual fathering to a whole new generation. of those who have been called from the darkness into the light. And so help us today, especially to prize and to give thanks for Christ and to ponder how he is changing us. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.