We will be reading today from, again, the little epistle of 1 John chapter 2 and verses 28 through chapter 3 and verse 17. This will be the fifth message in the series and we are going to be looking at today that true Christians have a hope in Christ, they bear their family likeness or resemble their family member and love their family members. So join with us. try to concentrate carefully as we read so that we understand the material that we are dealing with. All right, ready? And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous you know that every one that does righteousness is born of him. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." For we shall see him as he is, and every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abides in him sins not." Whosoever sins hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins 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 remains 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 does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother. For this is the message that you 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 works were evil, and his brothers 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 loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has 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 has this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his vows of compassion from how dwells the love of God in him. You may be seated. A long reading of God's word today, but we're anxious to get into the heart of the matter. Well, we're working our way through this little epistle. We're right in the middle of it in the fifth message. And John has been using now three tests. to distinguish true Christians from the counterfeit ones. And in the process of this distinguishing, he has condemned the false teachers who have withdrawn from the Church, while at the same time he has reassured his readers that their abiding in the truth is an evidence of true fellowship or a relationship with God. That's important to understand, the little book of 1 John, that all of John's condemnations are not upon his readers. They are upon the group that has left. And he is reassuring his readers that because they have remained faithful to apostolic doctrine, they are the true Christians. That is essential, or else when you read it, you will be left with the understanding that John is just designing this little epistle to raise all kinds of questions. in your mind and cause you to doubt your salvation. That's not the case. Now, the tests have consisted of a doctrinal test to test their beliefs, a moral test to test their obedience, and a social test to test their love to others. And John is going to go over these three tests three times in the book. Remember at the introduction, we said that he's going to work like a spiral. He'll start on a theme and then he'll spiral out and then he'll continue to do so with these three themes and enlarging upon them in the book. He has completed the first set of the three tests and now he's about to circle back for a second look at the themes and enlarge upon each of them. In chapter 2 and verses 28 through chapter 3 and verse 10, which we have read, He's going to take a second look at the test of obedience. Chapter 3, verses 11 through 24, the test of love. And chapter 4, verses 1 through 6, the test of faith or belief. We now begin by looking at verses 28 and 29. Keep your Bibles open there. And these two verses now serve as a connecting link between chapters 2 and 3. Next verse 28 gives a summary of the teaching on abiding in Christ which we looked at and closed with our last message. And verse 29 introduces the theme of sonship or membership into the family of God. And John is here seeking to give true believers a ground for an assuring hope and confidence which will enable them to look forward to the approval of Christ at his coming. The pre-Gnostic teachers, or the ones who had left the church, were saying that the restraint of sin was not important. Now, that's important in modern-day application here. Many professing Christians and churches view sin very lightly, and the ones who had left the said that sin was not any big matter affecting one's relationship with God. John, in contrast, asserts that if the character of God is righteous, then the character of those who make up his family must also be righteous. The righteous father produces righteous children. It is here that John introduces the subject of the new birth. for the first time in his letter. It's the idea of regeneration. Re means again, and generation means birth. A person must be rebirthed into spiritual life to become a member of God's family. To become a member of the human family requires a physical birth. To become a member of God's spiritual family requires a spiritual birth. There is a generation, a regeneration of spiritual life. This brings to remembrance the story of Jesus and Nicodemus in the third chapter of John. There are certain signs in the lives of those who have been given spiritual birth. The first one is in chapter 2, verse 29, and that is they, quote, do that which is right. The standard for what is right is what God has revealed as His will in His Word. The second evidence is that true believers do not practice sin, chapter 3, verse 9 and 10, and chapter 5, verse 18. The third evidence of the new birth is that believers love their spiritual brethren, chapter 3, verse 14, and chapter 4, verse 7. And the fourth sign of the new birth is that they believe that Jesus is the Christ, chapter 5, verse 1. And the fifth sign or evidence of the new birth is that true believers overcome the love of this present world, chapter 5 and verse 4. Look in verse 29. It is important to note that when John says that everyone that does righteousness is born of him, he is stressing that doing what is right in the sight of God, now listen, is the consequence and not the cause of the new birth. It's descriptive of one who has been born again. It is not the cause of God giving birth. It is not that God says, you do right and I'll give you birth, I'll give you life. But everyone who does right has been born of God. So John's readers can take confidence that if they are doing what is right in the sight of God, that is a sign they are born of God. and thus can take confidence when Jesus comes again to judge the world. Those who are not doing what is right in the sight of God can be assured that they will be brought to shame at his coming. Chapter 3, verse 1, John starts with a word, Behold, and he is emotionally startled here at the idea that God would bestow the privileges of sonship upon sinful creatures. Does that startle you? If it does, you're a Christian. If it doesn't, it indicates that you have never experienced the love of God for sinners. Behold, when a father begets a child, he bestows the family name upon that child. Sinners are illegitimate children who have been adopted into the family of God and granted full status as God's legitimate children. That is mind-boggling for someone who has lived their life as an orphan, who has had no legitimate standing, born out of wedlock, no home, no parents, and then to be given a name associated with parents and a home where it is filled with love. Folks, that's what God has done with us in that he has reached down and adopted us who were born dead in trespasses and sins, illegitimate, and has placed us into his family. Behold what manner of love, John states. But there's another marvel that John refers to which characterizes those members of God's family, and that is the world of unbelievers does not relate to or know them any longer. The people that they used to be associated with can't understand them, and don't want to understand them. The world does not love the children of God. This is due to the fact that the people in the world do not know God, and this is not due to ignorance. But it's due to the fact that they love the world and its sin, and that they willfully despise doing what is right in the sight of God. Go to a worldly, unregenerate person and tell them, this is what you ought to be doing because God says it's right, and see the response. And when God plants His children throughout the world, throughout the culture, And they seek to do that which is right, this worldly culture will become hostile toward that. They will not welcome the person or the message. So this is further assurance for John's readers that they are the true children of God. So rather than being surprised that your family and your friends aren't enthusiastic when you became a Christian, then view that as an evidence of assurance that you have become a Christian. This is assurance which we'll be speaking much on in the next message. Unbelievers have no fellowship with God or his children. That is, they have nothing in common with them in spiritual matters, for you remember that's what the word fellowship meant, to have something in common with. So while John uses the word world here to refer to all of those who are still in Satan's kingdom, he's probably meaning primarily, Brother Robert, those who have left the church and are now opposing it. This is the epitome of the world. These are the ones that are despising the apostolic believers. Well, let's look then at verses 2 and 3 and concentrate for a moment on the believer's hope in Christ. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him, that is, in Christ, purifies himself even as he, Christ, is pure. In light of the rejection by the world system, this may leave a new Christian feeling very lonely in this world. How, then, does the believer face the future? For he has been given God's promise that he will become like Christ, that is, without sin. Now, I asked you a moment ago, does it amaze you that God would love sinners and put you in his family. All right, I want to ask you a follow-up question. Do you long to be without sin, or is that something you can live with? The false teachers didn't have any problem with sin. They could be comfortable with it. But now that the child of God has been born again, he has now began to look upon sin in a different light. And now he lives in hope that God will fulfill his promise to him. We are, look at your passage, here and now in principle the children of God who lack perfection because of sin. We don't become children of God out here at the end of life when we become sinless. We are here and now the children of God who are yet imperfect. But that which exists in principle in us now will become a full reality in the future. God has only begun His marvelous work in us, which in time to come at Christ's appearance He will then bring to completion. Colossians 1.27, Paul sums it up in these words, Christ in you the hope of what? Of glory or glorification. When the child of God is glorified in the day to come, then that will be the time that he and she will no longer sin. Christ in us now, in this life, gives us a hope of a sinless state in the life to come. The believer then lives in the hope of becoming conformed to Jesus Christ. And the more he thinks upon this truth, the more he is purifying himself from a love of this present world and its sin. What you think on will have a way of bringing it to pass of what you become. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Paul says in II Corinthians 7, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The message of the pre-Gnostic teachers was that one could maintain a casual view of sin and learn to live with it. I repeat again, that's all too common the way sin is looked upon in today's even evangelical churches. Just learn to live with your sin and make the best of it. In contrast, The message of the gospel is that Christ came to separate us from the love of sin, and that his children long for the day when they will be freed from its presence. To know whether that we are thinking primarily of this temporal world or the world to come, whether we're thinking of fleshly, physical things or spiritual things, in your prayers What you ask God to deliver you from and out of, is it primarily because of the bad consequences that's happening in your life, or is it a desire to be freed from sin which brings on those consequences? Paul can say in Titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 14, The grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly where? In this present world. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." That's true grace. It's grace that works in us. It does not make us at home with sin, but which makes us uncomfortable with our sin. The believer is not passive toward his sinning, but actively fights it. Let's move on to verses 4-10. Having seen that a true believer has a hope in Christ of becoming like Christ, let's look at now the fact that the believer bears the family likeness. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law, and we know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abides in him sins not. Whosoever sins has not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Now see, there was some, whatever the nature of the teaching was, it was teaching that you could be at home with unrighteousness. Let no man deceive you in that, God is saying. He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins 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 remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this, or in this principle, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he. that loves not his brother." We're in deep water here. Somebody want to come and help me out? Brother Johnny, would you like to come over and start at this time? In these verses, God is contrasting, or John is contrasting, two spiritual families. There's the family of God and there's the family of the devil. In each family, the children may be known by their moral likeness to the head of the family. Get that? Two fathers, God and Satan. God's children are known for their doing of that which is righteous, and the devil's children are known for their sinning. I think that we can't deny that or try to alter that any. That's what John is saying here. In verses 4 through 6, John defines what he means by the nature of sin. The false teachers were very vague, Brother Tom, in their definition of sin, vague in it, and were deceitful at this point, as seen in verse 7, let no man deceive you. False teachers usually in the area of deception are vague. They were claiming to be right with God while living a life dominated by sin. Now listen to this statement. An inadequate or low view of sin invariably produces an inadequate view of the gospel and the righteousness which it produces. If you don't have a big problem with sin, you won't get very excited about the gospel. The gospel is not only for sinners, Sister Dorothy, it's for big sinners. Those who are forgiven much, they what? They love much. That's the case. So the greater you see your sin, the more you're going to love God and the gospel. The more you're going to love his children. But the world provides its own definition of sin. You hear it all the time, the comedians. Sin is some naughty deed, usually related to sex, which can arouse laughter, and thus it should not be taken seriously. Others view sin as a weakness. caused by a psychological defect. Just don't think right, so just a little retarded in your views towards sin and don't take it seriously. Still others call sin as a mistake in judgment. Well, I made a mistake. But however one views it, The world's definition of sin is that it should not be taken as serious enough to bring one under the wrath or the displeasure of God. The Greek word here in verse 4 for sin is harmatia. Here's what it means. It means to miss the mark, and it's used in the sense of an archer. Aiming his arrow at the center of the target, only to miss it. I'm well familiar with that because I cannot use a bow and arrow. Somebody says that you can't hit the side of a barn. Maybe that's an old rural statement that only the rural people understand, but that describes me with a bow and arrow. I don't need a bullseye. I need the side of a barn, and if I hit the side of the barn, I've done well. But here's the archer aiming for the bullseye and he misses it. And therefore, to the Greek world, sin was thereby considered a miscalculation or a mistake in judgment. Not something serious, just a miscalculation. John, however, goes further. He defines sin as an attitude of lawlessness. The word for transgression is anomia, or lawlessness. What is that? It's different from harmatia, or the missing the mark. is an attitude which refuses to acknowledge God's authority and substitutes one's own authority. out there everywhere now, but one partner will charge the other one with this and that, and the other one will say, well, who are you to tell me what's right? That's anomia. It's a refusing to acknowledge any objective standard over oneself, and one makes themselves their own god and establishes their own set of laws. This is what John, Brother Asa, describes as sin. not a miscalculation, but an act of rebellion against constituted authority. Sin is a serious offense, then, against God, as John saw it. It represented a deliberate disregard of God's divine right to establish law. Sin is a direct offense to God It's an expression of enmity against God and deserves His wrath. As I have watched over forty years of pastoring now, in the books and the preaching, I see a great difference just in my little short lifetime in the evangelical message in that it no longer really focuses on sin as offending God. And thus, when you remove the wrath of God, then what's the big deal? What's the big deal? The pre-Gnostic teachers would fit right in today because they're all through us. They're in the midst of us. They're everywhere. Now, not only is sin an offense to God, but it's contrary to the incarnation of Christ. God became a man, John says, for the purpose of doing away with sins, verse 5. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Jesus dealt with sin in the only way suitable to God. He lived a life of sinless perfection. then made the perfect sacrifice of himself for sins, and in doing so his perfect life became the model of the new creation to which God has predestined all of his children to become." Romans 8, 29. He has predestinated us to be conformed to what? To the image of his Son. John now makes two startling statements. This is what I alluded to earlier. Somebody would like to take over here. Which have alarmed many Bible readers through the centuries. He says, verses 9 and 10, look at your passage, that no one who abides or lives in Christ keeps on sinning. He also says that no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. In verse 9, he caps it off by saying that everyone who is born of God cannot go on sinning. Now, how does that fit with you? This alarms the true believers. who know they are constantly confronting sin in their daily lives. If 1 John is written to assure us of our salvation, as given in 1 John 5.13, I have written unto you that you may know, if this is the purpose of it being written to assure us of our salvation, a statement like these can have just the opposite effect. What then is John saying? John, what do you mean here? Now, several explanations have been offered. I'll give you those which are reduced down to about four other minor ones, but let's look at some of what Bible teachers have tried to say John is saying and see if they fit in with the context here. First, some believe that John is teaching sinless perfection for Christians. Everyone who is born of God is made sinless. Is that what he is teaching? We believe this is to be rejected because elsewhere in his epistle, John allows for the possibility of sin in the lives of Christians. Remember, back in chapter 1, verse 8, look at it. believers that we have no sin, we do what? We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, etc., etc. So here John certainly allows for the possibility of a Christian to sin. Chapter 2 and verse 1, My little children, these things write unto you that ye sin not. Now, if those who are born of God cannot sin, why does John exhort them not to sin? Get the gist of the thing? I'm trying to point out that this view cannot fit in with the context of John's letter. Chapter 5 and verse 16. If any man see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask, and it shall be given to him." So here a brother can see another brother sin a sin. John also, throughout the epistle, exhorts his readers not to sin, but to practice righteousness. Chapter 2, verses 1, 15 and 29, chapter 3, verse 12 and 18, and chapter 5 and verse 21. Also, very few Christians would claim to be sinless. Are there any here this morning that would like to stand and take that position? Then have you never been born of God? John says whoever is born of God does not commit sin. So whatever he's saying, it cannot refer to sinless perfection because throughout his He is dealing with imperfections in Christians. Now, the second explanation that is given for this passage is that John is describing a special group of super-Christians who are living a higher quality of life than others. Anybody here without sin today? Would you stand again? Would you take my challenge? All right, then what this explanation is saying is that there are some Christians who become super-Christians, and they enter into perfection. But the average Christian does not achieve that. Is that what John is saying? No. How do you know, Pastor? Because in John's language, he is using absolute language, and what is true of one Christian is true of them all. Whosoever is born of God, everyone that's born of God, this is descriptive of them. So it's not describing one category of average Christians who struggle with their sin, and then a super category who enter into sinless perfection. Everyone born of God has this common bond. They do not commit sin. So it cannot be describing a special class. Christians. Thirdly, there is another group which attempt to explain this, that John is referring to a particular or special type of sin. And then this is divided down into several categories by the different groups. First, that of the Roman Catholic, in which it is taught that their sins are divided into mortal and venial. Some are forgivable and some are unforgivable. So what John is supposedly saying is that there are some sins that are mortal and there are some sins that are not, and whoever is born of God does not commit mortal sin. Secondly, another church teaches that it's referring to willful versus involuntary sin. That is, if you sin willfully, It means that you've never been born of God, but if you do things that you didn't mean to do, but you did them, why, that's all right, you can be forgiven for that. And that's what John's describing. And then there's another group which says that makes a distinction between sins and mistakes. Mistakes or errors. That's usually the group that claims that you can enter into sinless perfection. and that they no longer commit sins, but they do acknowledge he makes some mistakes. Well, they're determining what the standards are rather than what God's word is. And then there's a fourth view that it's referring to sins versus the sin unto death, or apostasy, as described in chapter 5, verses 16 and 17. Now the problem with all of these views is that there's no indication that John is working with such a limited definition of the term sin. He's talking about all kinds of sin being a manifestation of lawlessness. Well, how are we going to solve the problem then? Well, this is the route I believe that we should take. Perhaps the best way to solve the problem is to stress that the Greek verbs are in the present tense here, which describe a continuous or habitual activity. And thus the believer may sin on occasion, but does not make sin a deliberate habit of lifestyle. This is the most popular understanding of the passages among the commentators through the centuries. It's popular because it also provides a view which is consistent with the New Testament description of a Christian. The Christian is a person whose heart is set on pleasing God and who cannot make sin his way of life, even if he or she occasionally lapses from their heart's desire. So whosoever is born of God does not commit, present tense verb, does not habitually practice ongoing sin. In verses 8 through 10, John traces the origin of sin to the devil and identifies the two spiritual families. The devil sins continuously The child of the devil continues to commit sin because he belongs to the evil one. In contrast, the child of God will not continue to sin because he has the nature of God in him. When he falls into sin, he realizes that Satan has deceived him and led him astray. And when he turns to God in repentance and faith, he finds forgiveness. As a child of God, he is never under the power of the evil one. The false teachers were Satan's children who were trying to seduce John's readers. A child bears his family likeness. You're either a child of the devil or a child of God. You resemble one or the other. How you live identifies you as to which family you belong. Now let's move to verses 11 through 17. The believer loves his family members. For this is the message that you 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 work for evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has 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 sees his brother have need, and shuts up his vows of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him." John is now ready to expose his readers to a second look at the second test of love. He's given them a preliminary discussion on love back in chapter 2, verses 7 through 11, which we've covered, and now he enlarges upon it. And in doing so, he makes a distinction between the hatred of the world exemplified in the life of Cain, verses 12 and 13, and the love of believers exemplified in Christ, verses 14 through 18. is an indispensable feature in the lives of the children of God because it is the embodiment of the gospel message and the new commandment which they received when they were first taught the Christian way. The proud Gnostics, who boasted of their intellectual superiority, produced a spirit of pride and arrogance among their followers. and those who rejected their teachings were looked down upon with contempt and hatred. And John exhorts his readers to avoid this practice in their fellowship. So in order to contrast love with hate This is an illustration from the second generation of mankind, the story of Cain and Abel. And the story of Cain shows what failure to love one's brother can lead to, namely, murder. It stresses that hatred is murder in its embryonic form. According to the story, in Genesis 4, verses 1 through 15, Cain's sacrifice was unacceptable to God, while Abel's sacrifice was accepted by God. And the reason that Cain killed his brother was that he was envious that Abel's righteous act won the approval of God. This angered him because he was lawless and insisted on worshiping God according to the standards of his own self-will. Cain did not kill Abel because he was just inherently wicked, but he killed Abel because he, as a wicked person, hated a good person. I hope you grasped that. The world does not have to be a bunch of psychopath murderers, murderers to hate. The world hates good people. because good people are a condemnation unto them, in that it indicates these individuals have won the favor of God, are pleasing to Him, and they're not. Cain couldn't stand that. He brought his religious sacrifice, the fruit of his own doings, and God wouldn't accept that, but God accepted Abel's sacrifice, and Cain was zealous or jealous of that. And he hated Abel because Abel was a good man. Now, John's readers are not to be surprised if the world hates them. Incidentally, my hearers, the more you become like Christ and the more zealous you become, the more you're going to distance yourself between those who don't want to be that zealous and that righteous. That's why you'll see it happening with family and close ties. I don't know of the people, and I'm thinking now of seven or eight men in my lifetime of pastoring that were drunkards or adulterers, unfaithful, wouldn't work, their wives professing Christians. but nominal in belief. Oh, pray for my husband. He'd get saved. He'd become a Christian. And then God saves him. And he wants to start going to church just not once, but two, three times a week. He wants to start tithing. He wants to start doing all these things. And the wife would rather have him back the way he was before. I've seen that seven or eight times. the more zealous one becomes for Christ, the more they will separate themselves from the nominal, professing Christian. So don't be surprised if the world hates you. Now, John clearly had in mind not simply people outside the church who persecute Christians, but also people within the church whose lack of love demonstrates they are not true believers. namely the false brethren who have withdrawn themselves from the Church. The false religious professors insist upon worshiping God according to their own standards of self-will. The true believer worships God according to the revealed standards of behavior laid down by God in His Word. God's will and self-will cannot have fellowship one with another. The absence of love for those who do what is right in God's sight is the evidence of Cain and reveals that one is lacking spiritual life. They belong to their father, the devil, whom Jesus said was a murderer from the beginning because he did not abide in the love of God's truth. John 8 verse 44. Now, after showing the nature of hatred, John now turns to the nature of love in verses 14 through 18. Well, this is another one of those needful word definitions. The word love can have a variety of meaning. It's necessary to know exactly what a person means when they use the word love. Most people associate Christianity with the command to love, and so they think that they know all about Christianity when they've understood its teachings in terms of their own concept of love. I know what Christianity is. It says we're supposed to love everybody, and this is what I mean by love, and so I understand Christianity. John found it necessary to clearly explain to his readers what he meant by love. And we, my hearers, can greatly profit from his explanation. Instead of giving an abstract idea of love, John defines love by giving an example of what he means. It is seen in Christ that he, look at it, laid down his life for us. He means he sacrificed his life for others. As Cain was the supreme example of hate, Christ is the supreme example of love. To rob a person of his or her life is the ultimate sin against one's fellow man. That's what Cain did to his brother Abel. But to give up one's life for another is the ultimate act of love for one's fellow man. Jesus had taught that the greatest example of love is seen when a man lays down his life on behalf of his friends. John 15, 13. If love is defined by Christ giving away of his life for us, then John says in verse 16, we ought to lay down our lives for the who? And as I have made it clear at the outset of these series of messages all through the book of John, the brethren are fellow believers. He's not dealing with loving our enemies as he dealt with in the gospel. That's another issue, but it's the brethren, fellow Christians. Now, lest John's readers might think that the only way then to love others is by dying as a martyr. He reminds them that true believers can show love by sharing what they have with others in need. Just as one can show hatred toward another without killing them, so one can show love toward others without actually dying for them. You recall in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the religious representatives who saw the wounded man in the ditch refused to get involved in his life. And after analyzing the situation, they stopped by and looked at it. They realized it cost them a good deal of time, effort, material wealth to get him to the doctor. They didn't want to get involved. It cost too much. Getting involved would mess up their pursuits that they had planned for the day. Well, they didn't murder the guy, they didn't pick up rocks and put him out of his misery, but they showed hatred toward him by leaving him in his misery. Now stay with me as we come to this conclusion then of what is real love and hatred. In John 17, verse 17 rather, John lists three marks of a person who lacks the love of God in him. First mark, they possess the ability to help the needy. This is seen in the expression, has this world's goods. The second mark, they see the need. It's seen in the words, sees his brothers have need. Make a note here, the verb John uses here for seeing refers not to a casual glance, but to a careful gaze which makes one fully aware of the brother's difficulty. Not just glancing over here and seeing this, but it's someone who has been brought face to face with the need. They have analyzed it, and they've said, no, I don't want to help. Not worthy of helping. I haven't got time. The third mark of those who lack the love of God is that they refuse to relieve the need, as seen in the words, shut up his vows of compassion from him. Anyone who fills all three of these descriptions has failed the test of love. So what then, in conclusion, is love in John's usage? You ready? Love is not a warm feeling of emotion which may come and go. And because that is what most people think love is, then they feel loving sometimes and to some people, and then other times and other people, they feel unloving because they don't have a warm feeling. That is not John's definition of love. What is John's definition of love? It is doing what God says is right for us to do toward other people. Look at it. Over in chapter 5, verse 3, this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. Love is defined as obedience to what God says is right. had an acquaintance of mine that struggled with different aspects of his life. One day he was talking with me, he said, preacher, I just don't know whether I'm going to be at church Sunday or not. I said, oh, why not? He says, I'm getting where I just don't feel like I ought to go. I don't feel like going. And I said, well, what do you think God's will, would it be right if you went? Oh yeah, it would be the right thing to do, but I just don't feel like going. He said, what do you think I ought to do? I said, I think you ought to be at church Sunday morning. He said, but I'd be a hypocrite. I said, why? Because I don't feel. I said, that's not the problem. You get up and you do what is right. You keep the commandments of God whether you feel like it or not. For love is not to be defined by how you feel or how you don't feel. It's obedience to God's precepts. That's John's usage of love. Well, then what is hatred? What is hatred? Listen, it is not a cold feeling of anger which may rise and fall. Hatred is a refusal for us to do what God says is right toward other people. If love is doing what God says is right, hate is a refusal or an ignoring of doing what God says is right toward other people. But we, because we have adopted a Sigmund Freud psychological definition of love, we have attached it primarily to the emotional aspect So then we define love as a warm attraction and hate as a cold feeling of anger. And that's not the way that John, the apostle of love, defines these two terms. Hate is a refusal for us to do what God says is right toward other people. That Levite and that priest who left the man in the ditch hated him. They didn't have to have some harsh feeling of anger toward him. They just ignored what their religious teaching had taught them they ought to do. My goodness, if you could even get an ox out of the ditch, on the Sabbath day to leave somebody, a human being, in a ditch and think you could go on and believe you were doing what is right, and yet you were not hating. These men were greatly deceived, and thus the false professors who had left the church said, we don't need these puny believers. They're so unenlightened. We've been caught up into heaven and seen God, and we have these direct revelations from God. Let's form our fellowship around that. But we have something in common with this that we don't have with these others. John said they're filled with hatred for those who believe in Jesus Christ. The person possessed by worldliness hates anything or any person which calls upon him to have to sacrifice his comforts, his plans, and his desires. Hatred is the absence of love. So in conclusion, some, rather true Christians, are those who have a hope in Christ that they will become sinless like Christ at his coming. True Christians are those who resemble the family likeness produced by their spiritual father, and true Christians love to serve their brothers and sisters in Christ. May God bless the exposition of His Word and give us understanding and then the will to implement what we have understood. Which family are you in today? Who's your father? Still belong to that one who has sinned from the beginning, and everything he does is sinnered in self? Or have you been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son? You've been begotten and made a new child of God. And now you find in your heart a desire to believe in Jesus Christ, a desire to love the brethren, and a desire to obey. what God says is right. Which family do you bear the likeness of? Who do you like to be around and enjoy? Let's close in prayer.