How can I know that I have eternal
life? How can I know that my brethren
have eternal life? Is there anybody here that's
interested in that question? I think at any given point in
our life, we've asked ourselves this question. How do I know
that I have life? How do I know that I have life?
We know that we were coming to this world dead in sins. We know
we come into this world dead in trespasses and in sins and
can do nothing to save ourselves. We know that God has an elect
people to whom He gives life. We know Christ said, I'm the
way, the truth and the life. It's Him who came and presented Himself sinless before
the Father, who bore our sin and bore our curse, who made
us the righteousness of God in Him. We know it's through His
righteousness that the Spirit of God gives life. How do I know
if I have that life? How do I know if my brother has
life? Well, the point of John's epistle
is over in 1 John 5, verse 13. If you look there, he says, These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. That's
the point of this epistle. It's so that you'll know you
have eternal life. And so John is speaking here
not of himself. We have the answer to this question
not of me. I'm not going to answer it. How
can you know you have life? I can't answer that. And John
is not going to answer it of himself. But what we have here
is the Spirit of God speaking. He's using John to write these
words and the Spirit of God tells you and I how we can know we
have life. And the Spirit of God says here
that faith which worketh by love is the proof of life. Faith which
works by love is the proof of God-given life. He says in verse
14, we know that we have passed from death unto life Because
we love the brethren. Now that's a pretty dogmatic
statement, isn't it? We know that we have passed from
death to life. Here's proof of life, right here.
Because we love the brethren. We love the brethren. Now, in
the center that God has given life, where God's given spiritual
life, there will be faith and there will be love for brethren. These two are the fruit of the
Spirit. Faith and love is the fruit of
the Spirit. He says, we know we've passed from death unto
life because we love the brethren. In every child born of God, every
child that has life, there will be faith and there will be love. The rule that we're under. We're
not under the law given at Mount Sinai. Believers are not under
that rule. We're under the rule of faith.
We walk by faith, Paul said, and the law is not of faith.
Well, what's our constraint? What's our motive? What makes
us do what we do? Paul said, the love of Christ
constraineth us. It's Christ's love for us that
is our motivation to do what we do. Love is a... I tell young
fellows when they get married, you can try to demand your wife
do this and that and tell her, lay down the law for her, and
you will find out real quick that love is a far superior rule
than law is. You can put your arms around
her and love her, And that's how Christ says we are to rule
our household, is by loving our wives. Not running roughshod
over them and demanding. That's law. Love is a far superior
rule than law is. And wherever there's faith in
Christ, there will be love for brethren. Go to Galatians 5 and
look at verse 22. This is not of us, it's of the
Spirit of God. Galatians 5.22. It tells us there what the works
of our flesh is. This is what comes from our natural
sinful flesh, but then it tells us what the fruit of the Spirit
is. This is what God creates when He gives you a new heart.
Look at this. Verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is love. That's the first thing he lists,
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. There's love and there's faith.
Meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Against these things there is
no law. Paul began with love there because love is the fulfillment
of the law. Love is the fulfillment of the
law. It's called in Scripture the bond of perfectness. It's that perfect, it's that
end to which God's perfect love brings you to love Christ and
love your brethren. This is where He brings us. And
without love, we could say that we believe on Christ. Scripture says you can have faith
to where you can move mountains. But without love, it's vanity. It's meaningless if you don't
have love. The Holy Spirit gives us faith
in Christ and He sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. He makes you to behold Christ,
He gives you faith to behold Christ, and He sheds abroad in
that new heart the love of God. This is why it's called irresistible
grace. We don't ask His permission to
do this. When God gets ready, He just
does it. You'll be hearing the gospel that one day you might
have hated, and the next thing you know, you find yourself believing
what God is saying. What's happened? The Spirit of
God has given you faith. And God shed abroad in your heart
the love of God. And you begin to behold the love
of God toward a sinner like you and I are. He sent His own Son. We didn't love Him. He sent His
Son who laid down His life for us. It's easy to love somebody
that loves you. But we're talking about people
who didn't love Him. And we're going to see what that
means here in a minute, to not love Him. But that's what He
makes you to behold. And when He makes you behold
this, you behold the love of God. And He creates in you faith
and love. You begin to be constrained by
the love of God. And when He's given spiritual
life, you're going to have faith in Christ and you're going to
have love for brethren. And I'll tell you who that first
and foremost, the brother you're going to love, is Christ Jesus,
the Lord. Because He's called in Scripture,
the Elder Brother. He's the firstborn Son of God
among many brethren. And that means God the Father
put Him in charge of the whole house. And He's the elder brother. And He came and did everything
the Father sent Him to do to save all His brothers and sisters. And the first brother you're
going to be brought to love is the elder brother. The same one
that you cast all your care on and put all your hope and confidence
in to save you is going to be the first one you love. Let me
show you that in John 8 verse 42. The Lord was talking to some
men who did not love Him. And look at what He said to them,
John 8, 42. This is a dogmatic statement
that Christ could make. And He said this, He said in
John 8, 42, If God were your Father, ye would love Me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me." He's saying,
if God is your Father, if you're born of God, the Father, you're
going to love Christ. You're going to receive Him by
faith. That's a certainty. He said in John 5.42, He said
to the same folks that didn't receive Him, He said, I know
you that you have not the love of God in you. I come in My Father's
name and you receive Me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. What does He mean when He said,
I come in My Father's name? He came, sent from the Father,
and He came to do what the Father sent Him to do. He came to to
uphold the law of God because His people couldn't uphold the
law of God. And He came to uphold the law of God as He justified
us from our sins. Because God will not merely clear
you of your sins and have mercy on you at the expense of His
justice. This is the gospel right here. God is just and His law has got
to be upheld. He's going to execute everybody
who is a sinner. That means everybody in this
world is going to die under the judgment of God. The difference
is, He sent His Son to die and to bear that judgment in place
of His people, so they will not bear that judgment. Christ dying
on the cross was Christ settling the judgment for everybody He
represented. How do I know if He did that
for me? There's only one way. Do you believe on Christ? Do you believe He's your only
righteousness? He's the only way you could fulfill
the law. If a man's still saying, well,
I believe I can fulfill it. I believe there's some good in
me. You don't believe Him yet. He did this for those that He
sends forth the Spirit unto, gives a new heart, gives you
faith, and makes you to see His love. And that's how come you
believe on Him and how come you love Him. Because you see that
you didn't love Him. You see you were trying to come
to God by your own works like Cain was doing. But He makes
you to see, in spite of us, He came and did everything necessary
to save us. And then He even comes and gives
us a new heart, gives us life and faith to believe Him and
to behold His love towards us. And that melts your heart in
love for Him. But everybody that He died for,
this is true for every believer, the judgment that is to come
Believers are not going to be judged. Go look at Calvary's
cross. What do you think that was? That
was the judgment being settled for every believer. When Christ
said it's finished, it is finished. Well, what's going to happen
to us in the day of judgment? It's going to be a public declaration
before all that Christ represented You who believe. You who trust
Him. You who rest in Him. I told you that illustration
of I have a friend who had to go to court. And a pastor friend
of mine went with him. And they were sitting there in
court. And all day long, men kept trying to represent themselves
before the judge. And the judge was just, I mean,
he was doubling their fines and everything else. And he told
them, he said, don't come before me trying to represent yourself.
You can't do it. You don't speak my language.
You don't know the law. You can't represent yourself. And this friend was sitting there. He didnít have a lawyer. He didnít
see his lawyer anywhere around. And right before it got time
for him, when the judge called his name, his lawyer stood up
and said, ìI represent him.î And the judge said, ìYouíre free
to go. Iíll talk to your lawyer when
this is over.î And he got up and walked out, free to go. His
lawyer dealt with the judge for him. Christ is our advocate. That means He is the lawyer of
His people. So He deals, He dealt with God
on behalf of His people. So when the day of judgment comes
and our name is called, Christ will say, I represent that one.
And there will be no judgment for that believer. It's those
who stand there and want to say, didn't we do many wonderful works?
Christ said there will be many that will stand there in that
day and say, didn't we prophesy? Didn't we preach in your name?
Didn't we cast out devils? We wouldn't let the bad people
have anything to do with us. We cast them out. We made sure
only good people were here. We wouldn't let any sick people
in the hospital. And we did many wonderful works
in your name, and Christ said, and I'll say it on that day,
I never knew you. I don't represent you. Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. But those He represented are
those that are brought, the one way you know, You fall on Him
and trust Him and all our eggs are in one basket. I'm trusting
Him and Him alone. I'm not looking to myself to
do anything. I'm not looking to me for anything.
I'm looking to Him alone. To Him alone. And when you've
been born of God and you've been given faith, you love Him. You trust Him. Now we don't love
Him as we ought and we don't go around talking about our love
because in comparison with His, our love is nothing. But we do
love Him. He said, if God was your Father,
you would love Me. And when we're born of God, we
do love Him. First and foremost. But here's
the next thing. This union with Christ that brings
us to believe on Him and love Him makes us love all who are
born of Him. Look at 1 John 5 and look at
verse 1. We love not only Christ, we love
our brethren. Look here, 1 John 5 and verse
1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now look at this next statement.
And everyone that loveth Him that begat. You almost think
it should read, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God and everyone that believes Him But he doesn't say that. He equates believing Him with
loving Him. He takes it for granted that
you know He that believes Him also loves Him. He says, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that
loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that's begotten of Him.
You see this inseparable union between faith and love. Where
there's faith, there's love. There's faith in Christ, there's
going to be love for Christ. Where there's faith in Christ,
there's going to be love for brethren. Because we're born of the same
Spirit, we believe the same Gospel, we're taught the same Word, we
delight in the same Savior. And so there's a unity there
between believers so that Just like members of a family, brothers
and sisters in a family love one another, we love one another. It's called being of the household
of God, being of the family of God. That's what Paul called
it in Ephesians. Brothers and sisters, we love
Christ who is our elder brother. We love God our Father. There's
a love there between the family of God. And everyone that loves
Him that gave you life, that begat you, made you to be born
again, you love others that are born again. And so, where God's
given life, He gives faith in Christ and love for brethren.
So this is proof of life. He says back in our text now,
1 John 3 and verse 14, we know that we've passed from death
into life because we love the brethren. because we love the
brethren. We're going to say a little bit
more about that in a minute, but now next we have another contrast. Sometimes you can understand
love better if you see the contrast to it. You know how before we
saw the contrast in God giving love by looking at how Cain hated
Abel. Now we're going to see it here
in what God says next. He says, the next part in verse
14, He says, He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. Now, as surely as love exists
wherever a sinner has been born of God, as surely as love exists
for brethren wherever you've been born of God, he that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. Just as love is a proof of life,
not loving is a proof of death. To not have a love for Christ,
to not have a love for brethren, is a proof of death. 1 John 4,
look at verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not
God. For God is love. Look down at 1 John 4 and verse
15. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God. That's faith. Whoever believes
on Him confesses Him. Why do they do it? God dwelleth
in Him, and He in God. That's how come He confesses
Him. And look at this, and we have known and believed the love
that God hath to us. God is love. And he that dwelleth
in love, why does he love? He dwells in God and God in him.
He's born of God. That's what it is to be born
of God. It's for you to dwell in God and God to be dwelling
in you. And everybody in whom God dwells, dwells in God. And when you dwell in God and
He dwells in you, You believe God and you dwell in love. You live in love. We're not talking about something
here that has to be... It does have to be exercised,
but it's a thing that's natural. You know, Abby and Jordan, they're
not having to be told to love that baby right now. It's natural. They love that child. Well, a
child of God, born of God, there is a natural love in our heart
now for Christ and for our brethren. We live in love, we abide in
love, we dwell in love because God dwells in us and we dwell
in God. But he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Now, we see something of the
difference between God-given love when we contrast it with
enmity. with the natural sinful nature
that we're born with. Look at verse 15. Whosoever hateth
his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him. The sinner who does not love
his brother hates his brother. There's no middle ground. We
either love God or we hate God. We either love our brother or
we hate our brother. Now that's how God says it. There's
no middle ground with it. It's whosoever loveth not his
brother hates his brother. And whosoever hates his brother
is a murderer. Now this word murderer here,
there's three different Greek words from which the word murderer
is translated in the Bible. or at least in the King James
translation. And one of those words is the
word Sicarios, which means an assassin. The drug lords in Mexico,
they call their bodyguards Sicarios because it means an assassin.
That's what they are, they're assassins. That's in Acts 544,
I believe, where it's used that way. But the other way the word
is used, it's called, it's for those who It's in a more general
sense for any kind of murder. Like if you murdered the tradition
that somebody practices, or you murdered the... You know what I mean. It can
be used in any way. Murder of anything. But this
word right here has a special application. It's only used one
other place in Scripture. It was used in John 8, 44 when
Christ was describing the devil. and he said he was a murderer
from the beginning. It's the same word. It means
anthro, which means man, and the last word means killer. It
means a man killer. And it's not just as in to kill
the body, it's that he would kill the soul if he could. That's
the kind of hatred we're talking about. And no murderer hath eternal
life abiding in him. Now that's the enmity and that's
the hatred of the natural heart. Look over at Romans 8. Let me
show you this so you see this. I'm not making this up. This
is what Scriptures say. Romans 8. Hold on, let me get there. Romans
8 verse 7. The carnal mind. That's what
we're born with the first time. The carnal mind is death. Wait. The carnal mind, verse
7, is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. Now some places the word
law means just the Ten Commandments and the law given at Sinai. And
some places the word law means any of the Word of God. And here
it means any of the Word of God, including the law given at Sinai. The carnal heart, the natural
heart is enmity. It hates God. And it cannot subject
itself to the Word of God. And proof of that is, when I
was dead in my sins and you read that scripture to me, I would
say, I don't hate God. Why did I do that? Because I
couldn't submit myself to the Word of God. I couldn't bow to
this Word right here that said, I hated God. I couldn't bow to
it. I would argue and say, no, I don't hate God. We don't hate
the God that we have in our mind. We don't hate the idle God that
we have carved out in our imagination. The God that cannot do anything
unless we let Him. We don't hate that God because
that God depends on us. We are the God of that God. But
this God here who says you can't do anything, This God who says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 where He says, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them
because they're spiritually discerned. If I don't have the Spirit of
God, I can't understand spiritual things. Until He gives me His
Spirit and makes me to have the key to this book, I won't understand
this book. The key to this book, you know
when we're lost we come to this book looking for what can I do?
What must I do to save myself? The key to this book is the gospel
is not concerning what you and I should do. Go to Romans chapter
1. What's the gospel concerning? Romans chapter 1. Paul said in verse 1, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God. Now he's going to tell us what
the gospel of God is. The gospel of God which He had
promised before by His prophets in all the Holy Scriptures concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what the gospel is. This
whole book, all the Old Testament prophets spoke of Christ and
all the New Testament is speaking of Christ. The book is declaring
to us what God has done in His Son, Christ Jesus, so that God
gets all the glory and His people get none. But when He gives you
the key, He gives you the key of knowledge, He makes Christ
all to you, makes you believe Him and love Him. You don't want
to have the glory anymore. You want Him to have the glory
now. And when that's the case, you start looking in this book
now and you start looking for what you must do and you start
looking for what Christ has done on your behalf. And now the book,
then the book will just open up to you. It's like the difference
between having a jigsaw puzzle scattered out on the table and
you can't put the pieces together and make it make sense. And then
when He gives you the whole picture, it's all concerning Christ the
Lord and what He's done for His people. It's like the puzzle
is completely put together. Wherever you go in the book now,
you see Christ in it and you rejoice in Christ. This is what
it is to love Him. This is what it is to have this
new heart and this life in you so that you love Him and you
love your brethren. But that person that doesn't
have it, he has hatred toward God. Just look back at Esau.
Esau was an unregenerate sinner. It tells us back there in 1 John,
go back there with me, 1 John 3. It says there, He saw Cain. Look here in verse 12. Cain was of that wicked one.
He was of the devil. And he killed his brother. Why
did he kill his brother? Because his own works were evil
and his brothers were righteous. The only thing that the Scripture
says Cain did. What did he do? He came to God
with the fruit of the ground. That's all he did. And God set
all His works for evil. Everything He did was evil. And
Abel's works were righteous. And what does Scripture say Abel
did? The only thing Scripture tells us Abel did was he came
with a lamb that had been slain and offered its blood and the
fat thereof. What's the difference? Cain came
with the fruit of the cursed ground, which is a picture of
a sinner coming to God with our works of our cursed flesh and
trying to give them to God. God says it's all wicked. Abel
came confessing, I'm a sinner that can't come to God unless
I come in a substitute lamb that's died in my place, whose blood
has made me righteous, whose blood has died for me so that
the law executed him instead of me, so I'm justified, and
God's laws upheld, he's just, and God says, that man is righteous. It's the difference in coming
to God through faith in Christ, that's what Abel did, and coming
by the works of your own hands, trusting something you've done,
that's what Cain did. And we saw what was in Cain's
heart. God took the restraints off of
Cain. And what did he do? He killed
his brother. When he heard this gospel, he
killed his brother. God told him. God even said in
Genesis 4, He said if you believed on Christ, you would be accepted.
And he still would not believe on Christ. He still would not
let go of his way and his works and come to God in the blood
of a lamb. He wouldn't do it. And he hated God so badly. He
couldn't get his hands on God. But God took the restraints off
of him. And He allowed him to do what was in his heart. And
this is what was in his heart. He killed his brother. Why? 1 John 3 tells us, verse 12,
because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous.
That's why. That's in your heart by nature
and that's in my heart by nature. Do you know how many times I
would have already been killed preaching the gospel of Christ
if it wasn't for God's restraining hand? Do you know how many times
when I was dead in my sins, do you know how many times I would
have been the one killing the preacher? In my heart I did. In my heart I did, because I
got angry without a cause. You go over there and you read
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, when He says, he that is angry
with his brother without a cause, he's committed murder. And He
says, so if you come to the altar and you know your brother has
ought against you, instead of trying to offer something to
God at the altar, you go and you reconcile, be reconciled
to your brother. Because if you don't, He's going
to deliver you to the judge and you're not going to get out from
under that judgment until you've paid the utmost farthing. You
know what Christ is talking about? If you're trying to come and
offer works to God and Christ has got all against you, you
haven't been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ,
you haven't come to Christ and submitted to Him yet, Leave off
all your gifts and all you're doing. First you go to Christ
and be reconciled to Him. First go and fall down at His
feet and be reconciled to Him. Lest He cast you to the judgment.
That's exactly what he's talking about. But that's in the heart
of every unregenerate sinner. Hatred toward God. So do you
see a difference, brethren? Do you still hate Christ? Or do you love Christ now? Do
you hate the gospel now? Do you love the gospel now? Do
you hate your brethren who preach and support this gospel? Do you
love them now? Do you find that you're one with
them? You see the difference? You see, it's not this sentimental
love that people are talking about and they try to guilt-professing
believers and tell them you've got to do this and that and the
other thing. First and foremost, this thing has to do with the
gospel of Christ. Loving Christ and loving our
brethren in Christ because we've been born of the same Spirit
and taught the same Gospel. Alright, thirdly, let me show
you this and I'll have to hurry. To keep us from looking to our
love and to keep us from putting confidence in our love, He reminds
us of where we see love. Verse 16, Hereby perceive we
the love of God. Because He laid down His life
for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth
the love of God in him? Who is it to us that the Son
of God came and laid down His life for? Well, I could say God's
elect, that would be true, but let me just tell you who they
are. They're the us who hated God with every fiber of our being. They're the us whose heart was
only murdered toward God and toward His Son. And knowing that
we hated Him, knowing that we would kill Him, and we did kill
Him, that's why there was some on that day that was responsible
for His death that He was laying down His life for. And yet He still laid down His
life. Here in His love, 1 John 4.10
says, Here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved
us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That
means His Son came and made satisfaction for our sins so that God will
not judge anybody for whom Christ died. That's what Christ accomplished. We didn't love Him. And what
did we just see to not love Him is what? It's to hate Him. And
it's to be a murderer. It's to not have eternal life
abiding in you. And we didn't love Him, but He
loved His people. We hated Him, but He loved His
people. We despised Him and we murdered Him. Every time we heard
the Gospel, we killed Him afresh in our hearts. And yet He loved
us. Knowing us, He loved us and gave
Himself for us. And God says, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. Even when we see our brethren's
old nature more than we see their new. He's not talking about just
when your brother's kind and sweet and loves you and treats
you like a brother ought to treat you. He's talking about even
when they look like we look to Christ when He laid down His
life for us. Oh, now, that's a whole different
ball game. It's a little harder to love
a brother when he's treating me like that. That's how Christ's
love does. So we're not looking at our love
and thinking we can come to God because we love one another and
God's going to receive us because of that. No. Our love's nothing
compared to Christ's love. We don't generally love as we
ought to love. But here's the opposite of love.
Let me show you this. Verse 17, Whoso hath this world's
good and sees his brother have need, and he shuts up his bowels
of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? The man
who says he loves, but he doesn't act on it when he sees his brother
has a need, how dwells the love of God in him? Let me give you
the application, and I want to apply this. Verse 18, He says,
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue,
but in deed and in truth. Let's not only tell one another
we love one another, but love in deed and in truth. Christ
didn't just say He loved us. How do we perceive His love?
We see it. You don't just see when somebody
says they love you, you don't see it. How do we see His love?
How do we perceive it? He came and really laid down
His life for us. That's how we see it. That's
how we see it. And He said this now to us, He
said, so you love as I've loved you. Now I want to consider Abel
and Cain again, just a minute. You remember Christ said, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself. Whosoever will save
his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. Now consider
Cain. We know that he didn't love.
We know that he hated. So consider him. All Cain's works
were evil because he came before God with the works of his own
hand. Cain professed in word that he believed God. He claimed
in word he believed God, but when he heard God declare to
him that all his works were wicked, when he heard God say, if you
believe on Christ, you will be accepted, Cain showed by his
actions that he really did not love God. He said he loved Him.
Oh, I love God. But when it came to laying down
his vain works, and his vain will, and his vain ideas of God,
and all the vain things that he thought God would delight
in, when it came to laying that down, he wouldn't lose his life,
that he might save it. He tried to save that life. And
the way he tried to save it was, instead of bowing and confessing
Christ and loving Abel, he killed his brother. And he said, I don't
want to hear that gospel. I don't want that gospel anywhere
around me. I don't want to hear it at all. And he slew his brother. Literally killed him. And Galatians tells us, just
like it was with Cain and Abel, just like it was with Esau and
Jacob, just like it was with Isaac and Ishmael, he that was
born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
and so it is today. Men everywhere say, ìI love God!
Oh, I love God!î But itís in word only. But when it comes
to laying down your life and losing yourself, that you might
be saved by another, men say, ìNo, Iím not going to do that.î
Men try to save their life, save those works, and they will not
deny themselves. Alright, letís consider now Abel.
Abel had heard the gospel. God had regenerated him to faith
in Christ and he had a love for Christ and for his brethren.
How do you know that? How do you know he was passed
from death to life? I know it because Abel laid down
his life for the brethren. First and foremost, by laying
down all his fleshly ways and all his vain works. How do you
know he did that? Because he came to God with the
blood of a lamb. He didn't just say he loved God. I see by what
he did indeed that he does love God. He came to God in the blood
of the Lamb. He actually did let go of his
works. He actually did cease assembling
with wheel workers and assembled with his father Adam around the
altar of God. But he did something else. He
laid down his life for the good of his brother Cain. When Abel
saw Cain come before God with an offering in which was no blood,
Abel knew right away that his brother didn't know God. He saw
his brother had a need. So did Abel, for the sake of
saving himself persecution and saving himself from being argued
at and railed on and hated by his brother, did he save himself
all that? Just say, well, just today I
won't come with the blood of a lamb because I don't want to
offend my brother. No, he showed the greatest love he could possibly
show to his brother. You know what he did? He came
with the blood of the Lamb, even though he knew that his brother
was going to be angry at him. He didn't save his life. He laid
down his life for the sake of his brother and came through
faith in Christ. And not only that, when he saw
his brother was rejected, And he had a great need that somebody
teach him the gospel. Did Abel shut up his vows of
compassion to save his own life, to save himself from anger and
persecution? Did he do that? Scripture says
Cain came to Abel in the field and they talked. What do you
think Abel said? I have a pretty good idea what
Abel said. How do you have a good idea?
Because Cain killed him. Abel didn't hide away the good
that he had when he saw his brother had need. He had compassion for
his brother. And what did he do? He declared
the truth to him. Brother, we're sinners. We can't
come to God any other way but in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's
the only way. I brought the blood of this lamb
because this is God's symbol. This is God's Old Testament picture
right here of faith in Christ. And that's why I came with it.
We can't come with the works of our cursed ground, of our
cursed flesh. We can only come through faith
in Christ. See, he didn't try to save his
life. He didn't try to spare himself injury and fault. He
laid down his life and he told his brother the gospel. And his
brother killed him because of it. See, faith which loves in
deed and in truth is a manifest proof of life. He says there,
Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our
hearts before Him. I am assured of Christ's faith
and love for me because I perceive it in His action. I perceive
it in that He laid down His life for me. I see it. I perceive
that brother Abel believed Christ and loved his brethren because
I see it in his actions. I saw how he came to God and
I saw what he did for his brother who was in need of the gospel.
He laid down his life for him. So you see brethren, faith which
works by love is proof that you've been born of God. It's proof
you've been born of God. You don't do that when you're
dead. You just don't do it when you're dead. You do what Cain
did. I pray God will bless that. All right.