Please turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. We have this continuing theme as we walk through 1 John of the privilege of being God's children, but also the fact that not all who claim to be God's children are. And so there are certain evidences, certain marks, not ways in which we can act to become or stay God's children, but evidences, things that will simply be true of those who are truly God's children, things with which we must reckon very seriously. If I read the first 10 verses of chapter three, that will bring us up to speed pretty well. The apostle John writing to his beloved church or churches, we're not sure, If one church or several churches were getting this letter, but as he's writing to his beloved children in the faith, John begins chapter three, reflecting on the love God the Father has given his children in the first place. He says, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Now earlier, this love of God's child for his spiritual brethren, those also born of God, our brothers and sisters in Christ, this love for the brethren has already been a major point. Chapter two, verses nine through 11. Whoever says he is in the light, in this fellowship with God, this eternal life, walking in light as God's in light, whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light. And in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So what does scripture mean by that word love? Love. How do you define it? How do you tell if it's what we're talking about, what the Bible is talking about? Joel Beakey says, the meaning of love has been seriously diluted and eroded today. Practically everyone claims to love God. Everyone who claims to be Christian also claims to love God and his neighbor. But true love is much deeper than emotion, sentimentality, infatuation, or a carnal love that indulges the flesh. Later, he says also, It is striking that Jesus commands us to love. He commands us to love. Since most people do not think of love as a response to a command, we think about love being an instinctive or emotional response or an inclination, something we just feel like doing, or we don't feel like it. But Jesus elevates love by linking it with the command to love God and one's neighbor. Love is not an option for a Christian. Love is not to be held hostage by our changing emotions. Love is an attitude that we cultivate and a pattern of behavior that we embrace. It's a very good word as we start to think about the love which God commands of his children, expects of them, and which he has already given to us that we may pass it on. Love is not just Well, I'm a very loving person because I have gushy feelings sometimes, or gushy warm feelings that just seem to come naturally to me in certain settings. But the question of whether you are a loving person, a person who has God's love in them, that question is really answered when you are in a situation with unlovable people, as it were, or in really in a situation where, humanly speaking, it's difficult to love, where there are definite obstacles to showing love. Like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, if you love those who love you, how are you any different than the pagans? The Gentiles love those who love them. The big idea that we'll see in our sermon text today I'm not going to read the whole text before we walk through it bit by bit. But the big idea we'll see here is that a real child of God demonstrates real love for fellow Christians. I'll say that again. A real child of God demonstrates real love for fellow Christians. John's going to make big points about how there can be fake love for fellow Christians, just love in word instead of in deed. So a real child of God demonstrates real love for fellow Christians. Now our sermon text today is the rest of this chapter that we haven't read yet, starting verse 11 and going through verse 24. And this, this text explores the significance of that idea that I just talked about, the big idea that explores that in two directions. First of all, in the direction of our relationship with fellow Christians. So let's talk about this, John says. What will and won't this look like if this is real in our relationship with each other? Then it goes in the direction of our relationship with God himself. That is, what does this truth do for our confident interaction with God? What does love for the brethren do for our relationship with God then? So first of all, let's tackle verses 11 through 18. which tell us that God's life and love in his children always produce love for their brethren. God's life and love that he's given his children always produce love in them for their brethren. Again, we use that term brethren. We're talking about brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow children of God, those who have also experienced the new birth, who've been made new in Christ through faith. That's very important as we work our way through here. People can, be very vague in their ideas about what it is to love a brother. But when John's talking about loving the brothers, he's been consistent throughout his letter. When he talks about the brothers, he's talking about those in the church around us. So, starting in verse 11, John writes this, For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, he's just been talking about those who are children of the devil who do not do righteousness, remember. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one, the devil, and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know, love, that he, speaking of Jesus now, the son of God, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? That's just an expression to say God's love certainly isn't abiding in him. Verse 18, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. All right, so first of all, backing up a little bit, verses 11 through 13. Murderous hate for the righteous fits the world of the devil's offspring. There should be no hint of this murderous hate in children of God. They are characterized by love for the brothers and for the righteous. But murderous hate for the righteous fits the world of the devil's offspring, the world in the sense of those who are outside Christ, who have not been born of God's spirit, who are still in spiritual death. This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Joel Beethke again says in 1 John 2 verse 7, we examined how John reminded believers that they had heard from the beginning the old commandment, which now had taken on new meaning. The same thing applies here. John is referring to the words of Jesus, a new commandment I given to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this, all men know, shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. John 13, 34-35. That's a good reminder. So, this is the message that you've heard from the beginning, and we've talked about this before in this letter, that we should love one another. And what's the opposite of that love? Well, we should not be like Cain, to use an extreme example. Cain, from the early chapters of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. Interesting, Cain literally murdered his literal brother, Abel. They may have been brothers in the sense of blood brothers and companions, but they were not spiritual brothers, as we'll see. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. So Cain is being put in the class of the devil's offspring. He was of the evil one. and thus of the world, the world that does not have the love of the Father, 1 John 2. Back in the beginning of the Bible, when our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, listened to the lies of the serpent, ate the forbidden fruit, God had pronounced a curse upon the serpent, upon that old serpent, the devil. And he had said that God had said that he himself would put enmity, hostility between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent's offspring and the woman's offspring. And ultimately that would culminate in one man, one offspring of the woman who would bruise or crush the serpent's head while the serpent struck at his heel, as it were. But God had announced there's going to be hostilities and warfare between two classes of people in the world, and only two, between two seeds, two offsprings as groups, between the devil's offspring and the woman's offspring, in the sense that the woman then would turn to God in faith and live by faith. So the very next chapter, that was Genesis chapter three. Let's turn to Genesis chapter four. Again, I don't want to assume that everyone knows or recalls the details of this account which John is referring to about Cain. So Genesis chapter four, verse one. Right after, this is the very next thing after God pronounces curses in the wake of sin, but he also announces eventual victory over the serpent. And he's just talked about this war between the two sets of offspring. Genesis chapter four, verse one says, now Adam knew Eve, his wife, Adam knew Eve, his wife, a reference to them coming together in marital union. And she conceived and bore Cain saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. Now notice Eve's expectant attitude here. I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. Just as God had promised, the woman now has seed, her offspring, at least in the physical sense. She is hopeful. And again, verse two, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. And there's a discussion, which is good to have about what was acceptable to the Lord and unacceptable to the Lord about the different offerings. I don't think we need to go into that right now, but whatever else we think about it, we just know that something about Abel's heart and offering were acceptable to God while Cain and his offering were not. So, middle verse five, because the Lord had no regard for Cain and his offering, so Cain was very angry and his face or his countenance fell. Now, children, kids, you're still not kind of looking up here, I mean, kids, there you go. Do you know what it looks like if your face falls? You're counting its falls because you're mad. You know what that looks like? Does that look like really happy? No. We all know what it looks like when someone's face is angry. Now, did Cain have a right to be angry? No. He was the one in the wrong, not God and not his brother Abel who did what was right. but he felt like he should be angry, so he was angry and it showed on his face. And so God interacts with Cain actually like our parents should interact with us when we look like this, right? Verse six, the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, if you do what's right, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door like a wild beast ready to pounce. Its desire is contrary to you, or literally its desire is for you. It wants to have you and devour you. But you must rule over it. God is telling Cain, you're in a very dangerous place. Sin's about to eat you up, but you are responsible to take control of your sinful heart. Back when we walked through the book of Genesis, I said this about Cain's anger here, applying it to us. Your feedings do not define truth and righteousness. We are sinners. Our feedings often defy God's law. Never indulge in bitter resentment just because it feels right. The villain is usually the protagonist, the good guy in his own mind. Evil people usually think of themselves as either the hero or the victim, but by what standard? There is a lawgiver and a judge, and you aren't it. You don't make the rules, in other words. You have no right to be angry with God or to be malicious toward those made in God's image. And I'd add today, especially as we're in the context of 1 John 3, you have even less excuse for malice against those who are doing what's right. against those whose righteous relationship with God contrasts with your own disobedience. But haven't we seen this in our families and in the world from little on up? How people naturally want to be angry when they're the ones in the wrong, but they want to be angry with those whose good conduct shows up their bad conduct. Because it's all about them. It's not about what's right or wrong defined by God. It's about their own feelings. that don't want to be bound by what God says is right and wrong. So look in verse 8 there, if you're still in Genesis 4. Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. The first murder in the world. The first literal murder, at least. Verse 9, then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Cain said to the Lord, and this is just what happens so often, Sinners go from being brazen to being suddenly whiny about the consequences. Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. Then the Lord said to him, Not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Now, of course, I preached a whole sermon on Genesis 4 when we were there a long time ago. Go back and listen to that if you want more of that. But let me point out a few more things here that connect with 1 John, where we are. Well, Derek Kidner in his commentary on Genesis here, he says, many details emphasize the depth of Cain's crime and therefore of the fall. The context is worship, the victim, a brother. And while Eve had been talked into her sin, Cain will not have even God talk him out of it, nor will he confess to it, nor yet accept his punishment. Sin is getting, it's just coming to, maturity in such an ugly way in Cain's life. And notice that Abel here is the first martyr. It's not just that he's the first victim of murder, he's the first martyr. He had worshipped in a manner acceptable to God from a heart of faith, and Cain hated him for it. Cain could do nothing against the God who had rejected his worship, but he could kill his fellow worshipper with whom God was pleased. So that's what he did. And as a witness to the proper worship of God, Abel is counted among the persecuted prophets. Luke 11, verses 50 and 51, Jesus lists Abel as the first prophet in the Bible to be martyred. Later, remember last week we read this as well. John chapter eight, the Jewish religious leaders The priests and elders of the people wanted Jesus dead, because his righteousness showed up their unrighteousness, as they wanted to be known as the proper worshipers of God and the ones who knew God. And Jesus told them, since they wanted to kill him, they were saying, we're sons of Abraham. And Jesus said, you're not doing what Abraham would have done. John 8, 44, he says, you are of your father, the devil. And your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. We'll get back to some of that concept in a minute too. Remember the little book of Jude toward the end of the New Testament, where Jude, part of the family of our Lord Jesus, the natural family of Jesus on this earth, Jude says, he found it necessary to write to us, appealing to us to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people. who pervert, who twist the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he describes these people who've crept into the church and who would twist God's grace into something terrible. He describes them in a lot of ways, comparing them to Old Testament figures, characters. But in verse 11 of this little book of Jude, he says, woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain, and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts. By the way, that's basically what we're going to have today after the Lord's table and agape love feast. That's where the potluck fellowship comes in. But I digress. They are hidden, hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves. waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foe of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. All right, so Jude compares false teachers to Cain, who demanded that God accept him on his own terms and despite his evil heart. Jude also compares these false teachers to the false prophet Balaam, who was willing to seduce God's people into sin to enrich himself. If I can get God to curse them, the Moabites will pay me well. The enemies of Israel will pay me well. Then they're compared to Korah, who rebelled against God's appointed mediators, Moses and Aaron. Korah insisted that he was holy enough in his own right to approach God as a priest. So Jude is piling up Old Testament examples of apostasy. There's a reason we're going through all this. Hang with me. He's piling up these Old Testament examples, including Cain of apostasy. People who once professed to worship the true God alongside his people, but their evil hearts led them to presume on God's grace and oppose God and his true people. Does that sound like those in John's day? who had departed the true church out of love for this present evil world to teach a false Christ. Sure. It does. Remember back in John chapter two, after John had warned against love for the world, which means you don't have the love of the father in you. He had said all these, all these precursors of antichrist, all these antichrists have come right now. Therefore, we know it's the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. He's talking about apostates, people departing from the true gospel and the true church to have their own version of Christianity and spirituality. Well, John is saying here the opposite of brotherly love. In the extreme is the example of Cain, who in a sense had a brother, Abel, right alongside him. They came to worship together, but it got ugly really fast. Cain's heart showed hate, not love, and it ended in murder. He murdered his brother. And why did he murder his brother? Because his brother's deeds were righteous and his weren't. So he had to strike out against his brother. And then he says, don't be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. John says it shouldn't be surprising that those who don't belong to God, who aren't his children, can't stand you. If your works are righteous and theirs aren't, you're like a bright light shining in a dark room that doesn't want it. Just like Jesus said, actually, Jesus said to his physical brothers, including Jude, before Jude was converted, he said to them, when they didn't believe in him, he said, the world cannot hate you because the world hates you. In other words, you're part of the unbelieving world, but it hates me because I testify about it, that its works are evil. That's John chapter seven, verse seven. And then Jesus says to his disciples, John 15, verse 19, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The world knows you don't belong, you're different, and you rub them the wrong way, just like I do. So that's the opposite of what marks true children of God, This hatred that comes out in animosity, obviously Cain's literal murder of his brother is the extreme expression of that, but this animosity that comes out, even if the people say that they are worshiping the same God, this animosity comes out and strikes out against those who are worshiping God rightly and who are doing right, and it shows up The person whose heart is filled with hatred and evil. Let's go to verses 14 through 15 now. In verses 14 through 15, John says that God's eternal life creates love for the brethren. You cannot have one without the other. So he goes back and forth between the negative and the positive, obviously. Verse 14, he says, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Quoting Joel Vicki again, as we think about Verse 14, passing out of death into life, what's that all about? Beaky says, in Ephesians 2, 1, Paul said, and you have be quickened, you have been made alive by God, who were dead in trespasses and sins. To be dead in sin means to be dead to God's realm. It means to be dead to the true knowledge of God, dead to living fellowship with God. A Christian is someone who has come to realize the true nature of sin. He recognizes that he is caught up in the midst of a spiritual conflict and that by nature he is under the dominion of sin and Satan. He recognizes the desperate plight of his position. Furthermore, he sees that only God in Christ can deliver him from that plight. He sees the truth of the gospel in Jesus Christ and comes to a personal knowledge of God. A Christian is born again. He has become alive to God in Christ. He is a child of God and is in living fellowship with God, having become part of the family of God. He has been translated, transferred out of this worldly kingdom of death and brought into the family of God's son. He once lived in darkness and death, but now he lives in light and life eternal. He has eternal life abiding in him. That's a good introduction to thinking about knowing that we've passed out of death into life. Usually we talk about, we would naturally think of going from life to death, dying, right? But this is the opposite. This is a spiritual passing from death to life. This is a spiritual rising from the dead. This is what happens when someone becomes a true Christian, when someone is really born as God's child through faith in Christ, in connection with faith in Christ. Jesus said in John chapter 5, starting in verse 21, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son, that all may honor the son just as they honor the father. Whoever does not honor the son, Jesus Christ, does not honor the father who sent him. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word, this is Jesus talking, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed, past tense, he has passed from death, to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming. It is now here. This is what's going on now, as I'm calling people to myself. When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. What happens when you believe in Jesus Christ? What happens to cause that belief? What happens is Jesus sends out his gospel, but not just like everyone hears it with their ears, but Jesus spiritually sends out his call to you. He calls you out of death into life, just like he stood at Lazarus too and said, Lazarus, come out. That's what he does, calling people from spiritual death and sins to life in him. It's not just turning over a new leaf. It's not just, oh, I'm going to improve myself with God's help. It's stark from death to life. You weren't in Christ at all, but maybe you started to have conviction of your sin. Now you're in Christ and you're a God's child. You weren't God's child. Now you are. You were a child of the devil, dead in sins. Now you're God's child. with eternal life. Now, if that stark thing has happened, I love what one preacher that many of you know of, Paul Washer, I love his illustration of how you can't help but be impacted by meeting God in Jesus Christ. He says it's like if he showed up late for a speaking engagement. And forgive me if I get a little details off, some of the details off, but this is the general idea. If he, a preacher, showed up late for a speaking engagement, and he said, I'm so sorry, brothers, you'll have to forgive me. I couldn't help it. On the way here, I got run over by a Mack truck. When you look at him, he doesn't look that much worse for the wear. He said, I don't believe you. He says, why don't you believe me? I said I got hit head on by a big Mack truck. Well, if that happened, there's going to be an impact that's going to show. Likewise, if you've met God and Jesus Christ, if you've become God's child, if you've passed from death to life, you're going to be a different person. Not in the sense of heavenly perfection that you'll have one day, but it'll change you and it'll show. And that's what John is saying. We know that we've passed out of death into life. because we love the brothers. And we didn't used to, which also tips us off. He's not just talking about how the world can just be generally nice to people. He's talking about a really deep thing that's new that only Christians really get, love for the brothers. Something else here. I would apologize for all the beaky quotes, but I won't apologize because they're good. He says, John follows the typical apostolic approach. He does not first come with a command saying, you have to be good children. You must love one another and live in harmony with one another. In other words, you will better do this. You better love. He doesn't do that. If you fail to do that, you will not be effective. Rather, John Jesus and the apostles handled the command to love in the context of describing believers who already love one another because they're Christians. We must be believers first, then live out that belief in an ever-increasing measure of love, they say. The issue is, have you come to God through faith in Jesus Christ? If you have, You'll have at least some measure of this love. You'll already know what I'm talking about. You'll be able to build on that then, get better at it, but this won't be foreign to you. Remember what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, and 10 to the church at Thessalonica, these young believers there. They were young believers. He said, now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more. Back to the sermon text, verse 15. And don't worry if you're looking at your notes, I do have a plan to probably cut this off at a certain point and finish in the afternoon what is left. So don't be scared. I foresaw this. Verse 15. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. As Beke says, hating someone, according to the New Testament, is the impulse of murder. The wish or desire to destroy, to wound, to hurt. You remember what Jesus said, again, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, starting in verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. At this point in this famous sermon, Jesus is going through lists of commands everyone knows about in God's law. And people are used to thinking of it in a very superficial way. Okay, so don't literally take an ax or a club and kill somebody. Okay, I'm good. Later he'll do the same with don't commit adultery, et cetera. But he says, verse 22, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. See, hate can show itself in many ways short of physical murder. So here's John going back from the positive to the negative. Like if you see this, you know, they're not of God. Karen Jobes says, in this context, everyone who hates their brother is like Cain, who hated his brother for living rightly before God. Such an attitude led to physical murder. But to hate someone because they are living rightly, here she's applying it to the false teachers of John's day, to hate someone because they're living rightly and consequently pressuring them by example or teaching to live like the world is a wish for their spiritual death and is, in effect, spiritual murder. And then she points out this word for a murderer is an unusual word in the New Testament. It really means a man killer, a person killer. And it's the same word Jesus used in John chapter eight, we already read to describe the devil himself. Now, wait a minute. Jesus said the devil was a murderer from the beginning. The devil didn't murder anybody, not physically in Genesis, but what did he do? How is the devil a murderer from the beginning? Well, he intentionally got Adam and Eve to disobey God, to turn away from the truth, to try to make themselves like God in the wrong way. And he intentionally murdered them because he knew, as God had promised, they would certainly die if they did that. That's how the devil was a murderer from the beginning, a murderer through his lies. and his false religious system he offered, his alternative way to be spiritual that would only lead to death. And he knew it. So there's a connection there. Again, there seems to be a strong connection here to the people John is responding to all throughout this letter. Those who are offering a really bad alternative to the real Christ and who have left the church and who despise people still in the real church. But they are offering the devil's lies and murdering souls. So there's some, there's some of that in here too. And still today, in all sorts of ways, there are those who will say that they are a church, a religious movement of some sort, a spiritual movement. but they really show their spite and their hatred for those who believe and love the truth. Karen Jobes points out those who want to say they're still Christians, but who attack real Christians who will stand up for basic truths of God's law. What is marriage? Things like that. What is a man and a woman? Still today, we have those who want to be religious or even Christian their own way, but they show by their deeds that they hate those who are really God's people and how they treat them. Moving to verse 16. Jesus dying love for the brethren sets the standard for how we love the brethren. Going back to the positive. Verse 16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us. Who laid down his life for us? God's son, Jesus did. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. Remember what Jesus said, John 15, verse 12. This is my commandment that you love one another, not just that you love one another. He says that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love is no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. And later on, he follows it up again, saying, these things I command you so that you will love one another. How do we love each other as fellow Christians? By pouring out our very lives for each other. We can't do it like Jesus did it in one sense. We can't atone for other people's sins by dying in their place. But we can pour out our lives in a different sense, can't we? We can look at our lives, our time, our friendships, our resources, our possessions, our homes, our finances. We can look at all that we are and have and say, it's not mine. It belongs to the one who purchased me with his own blood on the cross. And so it belongs to all his people too. I'm supposed to pour myself out for others and especially for those who are fellow children of God. And did Jesus, in his love for us, did Jesus simply wait until we did something good for him and then respond by loving us on the cross? Of course not. Jesus took the initiative when we were our most unlovely, our most wretched. So Jobiki says Christian love does not wait for others to do something for us and to us, but reaches out to others in need. How do we love like Jesus loved? We take the initiative. We love in spite of all the reasons we could list why it's not easy to love. We don't count our lives dear to ourselves. the world's eyes we waste our lives a lot because we don't do all the self-care stuff and we don't protect ourselves and wall ourselves in in self-protection we let people take our time and our resources because we love them yeah we're wise in all this there's biblical wisdom that plays in we'll be in the book of proverbs before long preaching through that and there's a lot of biblical wisdom but still We're not all about ourselves and our little kingdom and our little securities we have for ourselves and making sure people don't intrude on our lives too much. We pour out our lives. We lay down our lives, especially for the brothers in Christ. We spend our lives. We spend one day in seven here. We're also supposed to spend the other six days of the week taking care of our other responsibilities, but working in ways to love the brothers, not just on Sunday. And look at verse 17. Again, looking at the negative, what do we see when this Christian love isn't real? To withhold possessions from a brother's need, John says, shows God's love to be absent. If we have something that can help a brother, but we refuse, it shows God's love isn't there. It's a stark statement. Verse 17, he says, but if anyone has the world's goods, literally could say it very literally, the life of the world, the world's goods, it's really that word for life. We would say in English, bios, like biology, study of life. the life of the world. Just like he talked about earlier in chapter two, verse 16, John said, beware of the pride of life, boastful pride in what you may have in this life, your resources in this life, your status in this life. Here he says, whoever has something in this life, something that can promote life and wellbeing in this world, and you see a brother who has a need, If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, it's mine. I'm not going to give that to you. How does God's love abide in him? And he follows up with verse 18, where he says that talk about brotherly love without loving deeds is hollow. In other words, talk is cheap. Verse 18, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. And this is before the second point. The second point is designed to go much faster than the first point. So I'm going to leave the second point for this afternoon, okay? As I said, this is how I tentatively planned it here, but stick with me. How many times do we say, at least in our minds, if not out loud. Yeah, I love, I love everybody. And I especially love my fellow Christians. John says, let's get real about this. Is it just talk? Or is that how you're actually living? When push comes to shove, when the rubber meets the road, you use all our phrases. Remember the very similar Wording in James chapter two, James, the brother of the Lord says in verse 14, and here he's talking about whether someone's faith is living or dead, whether it's real or not. Very similar to what John's talking about. Are you really a child of God? He says, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? And listen to the example of works that show it's a living faith. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, you say some really spiritual stuff to them, like you care. Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So, similarly, John said, verse 18, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. You actually willing to part with that money? But yes, you worked hard to earn that. It's your livelihood. We're not making light of that. Or if it's not money that's in question or that you have to give, your time, which is precious. It's part of your life. your limited attention span, your limited resources, opening up your home when it's helpful, opening up your checkbook, as we used to say, but that's kind of, how many people actually write physical checks anymore? Anyway, opening up your life so you can engage people as friends in deeper and deeper relationships. What do your brothers and sisters actually need? Do you even care enough to know what they need? I'm really not, what I'm going to say next, I'm really not trying to guilt anyone. There could be false guilt. People have legitimate things going on, but let me just say, nonetheless, if you're able, you join prayer times, even online prayer times, to know what's going on as people give prayer requests. Again, I know there's, I'm not just like broad brushing everybody there. I'm just saying, are you doing what you can to know the needs and to meet the needs? Now, let me back up as we close here and say, of course, John's big point is not to make you all feel so horrible about yourselves. And that'll show up in the second point as we get there this afternoon, okay? He actually wants you to be encouraged as true children of God You all know, if you are a child of God, you all know about this thing called brotherly love in Christ. You already have it. Let's excel at it. And let's clear out the brush that gets in the way. But you know what that is. The problem is, and that John is targeting, the problem is that some people, so sadly, can think of themselves as Christians, can sit in the pew beside you. Hopefully it's not you. And they can have all sorts of talk. They can talk the talk. They know the vocabulary. They know what they're supposed to say. And they can be all about their image, how people view them publicly as Christians. But whenever something's really going to hurt them if they love, they don't love. They close their heart. Paul's saying about that, Paul, John's saying about that kind of person, Paul would say the same thing about that kind of person. If that's who they are at heart, God's love isn't in them and they shouldn't fool themselves and we shouldn't let them fool themselves. We need to not just be about talk, but about reality. Has God really given you a new heart? Do you know what Christian love is all about in any sense? Do you understand what we're even talking about? You should, if you understand what Jesus did in laying down his life and love for sinners. That's the gospel. That's what should drive all this. not just a desire to be a better person than the next person because I'm nicer to everybody than he is. It's being like our savior who freely as a free gift gave himself to us when we didn't want him, but we needed him. And are you living that way now imperfectly, but truly is that in your heart and coming out of your heart towards others and especially your fellow Christians. If you do have that kind of Christian love, even so imperfectly, be encouraged. He's about to say, we'll talk about this this afternoon, if that is in your heart, if it is showing in your deeds, you should have a great confidence before God. And that's gonna have wonderful effects in your relationship with God. We'll talk about that this afternoon. But the big idea, again, is that a real child of God demonstrates real love for fellow Christians. Now I know that some of you here, though the Lord may be working in your heart right now, drawing you closer to himself, you're not there yet. Some of you are not children of God yet. You need to take that seriously. And it's very simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Throw yourself on him, tell the Lord so, that I'm trusting in Christ, I know He lived the perfect life I could never live to satisfy your righteousness. He died the death I deserve for my sins. And he rose from the dead to give me eternal life, which I don't deserve. But I'm accepting it as a free gift. I want Jesus, not my old sin. Come to Jesus that way. And it's a good idea to tell to tell God that in prayer, express that out loud to the Lord. But if you come to him in that sort of faith, that means God is making you his child. And that's where you need to focus today. Let's pray together. Father, work in our hearts. Thank you for your word, may it be effective today. May it produce a good harvest of good fruit, the fruit of your spirit in our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.