1 John 3. John here takes us to the next
manifestation of God's work in the people of God. This is God bearing witness of
his child, that this is his child. And the way he does it is he
forms a true love in the heart of God's people for God's people. He gives us a love for our brethren,
a love for our brethren. So beginning in verse 14, we
know, John says, We know that we have passed from death unto
life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. And so there's a work of God's
Spirit. When God gives us his spirit
and he gives us life in the new man, there's going to be love
in you, in your heart for your brethren. There's a desire to
love your brethren. There's a willingness to love
your brethren. There's a teaching, a leading,
and an instruction by God in bringing forth love for your
brethren, and care for them, and empathy for them, and a help
to them as members of our Lord's body. And this is a manifestation
that his spirit dwells in us. It reveals that God dwells in
us if we have love for our brethren. He brings it forth. He manifests
this in his people, a love for the brethren. And you that love
your brethren in Christ, for Christ's sake, he tells us, have
passed from death to life. And it's not, we know there's
many Jesuses, there's many so-called Christs out there that men look
to. It's not just looking to any
Christ, it's looking to the Christ, who is the Son of God, who is
eternal God, manifest in the flesh for the salvation of his
people. This is the true and living Savior
who came and laid down His life for sinners like me, a vile sinner. And sinners like you, as He's
revealed to you and showed you your need, we come to God as
sinners in need of His mercy. Everyone that was received by
Christ came to Him seeking mercy. All that we see in Peter, especially
how that the apostles confessed their sin. Lord, depart from
me. I'm a sinful man. A sinful man,
he said. He was shown his sin. He was shown his need. And all
of God's people see the sufficiency of Christ to save them to the
utter most. and those who love their brethren,
it's a testimony that we have passed from death to life. And there's another affirmation
here given to us, he that loveth not his brother abideth in death,
continueth in death. He's still dead in trespasses
sins. It signals that you have not
heard, you've not heard Christ, you've not followed Christ, you're
yet continuing in your fleshly ways even if you've become more
religious. But he that has the Spirit of
God in them is loves his brethren. And this is so. We know in Galatians
5.22 that love is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the
Spirit is love. And again, Paul tells us in Romans
5 that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us. And so again, John, we see this,
it leads us to this truth that we are new creatures, born again. There's a passing from death
to life. We are made new creatures. Old things have passed away.
The things that comforted us once, the things that we could
do to comfort ourselves and give ourselves peace, they don't work
anymore. By his grace and power, he turns
us to Christ. He makes us to find our comfort
and rest in Christ. And oftentimes, that's the breaking
down of our own selves, seeing our own infirmities, seeing our
weakness, seeing our insufficiency, that we might find our all in
Christ and cry out, Abba, Father, save me. Save me, Lord. And that wasn't there before.
We thought we were all right. We could just do a little of
this or a little of that and make it all better. No more.
No more. We need the grace and power of
God And that's only found in looking to Christ. Now, John
hits us on this point once more. In verse 15, he says, whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer. And ye know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. And so it's out of the heart
is where evil thoughts. come forth. The natural heart
is that fountain of sin. That's where evil thoughts, wicked
thoughts come from. That's where murders come from,
Christ said. Adulteries come from the heart. These things, fornications, wickedness
comes from this heart. And John tells us here that hatred
in the heart for a brother, it's murder. It's murder. It's as
the hatred of Cain who slew his brother Abel. And Cain was a
religious man. He went to the true God that
Adam taught him and his brother Abel. They both went with their
sacrifices to the true God. But Cain came with the fruit
of the ground, the fruit of the dust, which is a picture. of us coming to God in the works
of the flesh, which is formed of the dust of the earth, which
is cursed. And we would come to God with our own works, thinking
that God will receive me for my works, my good works. And
he was rejected of God and cast down. And he hated his brother
so that he slew Abel. Because Abel came in the blood
of a lamb. He came trusting, believing. what was revealed to him, given
to him. We come in the blood, son. Adam
saw it. When God slew the beast for him
and he slew another for Eve to clothe their nakedness, it showed
us, it's a picture that we come in the blood of Christ. Christ
had to die for the sins of his people. We come trusting, believing
the promise of God in Christ. Cain didn't believe that. Cain
thought, I know. I've got some good fruits here.
I've got a good harvest. I'm going to bring this to God. Well, it's cursed. It's cursed.
And it's a picture of us coming in the flesh. And he slew his
brother Abel because his own works were evil. and his brothers
righteous, and who persecuted Christ more than any group of
people? It was the religious Pharisees
who had a religion, who had works, who had a righteousness of their
own, and would not hear Christ, would not bow to Christ, would
not confess Christ, would not have that man reign over them.
They came in their own works. But this hatred here for others,
it reveals an unregenerated heart. And we need to be regenerated. We need a new birth. And the
Lord constantly shows us that we need a new birth. new birth, we must be made new
creatures, we must be born again, else we will not hear, we will
not confess Christ, we will not believe him by faith. And so
John is showing us this, that we that are born again love our
brethren. And that's a manifestation that
we've passed from death to life. We're told in the scriptures,
keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues
of life. And if we have not a new heart,
we don't know the truth, and we don't hear, and we don't follow
Christ. We need that new heart that looks
to Christ. And we walk by faith, and it's
by faith that we love our brethren. By faith, we love our brethren. It's not that we trust that our
brother would never do us wrong. They shouldn't. We shouldn't
do our brethren wrong in any way. The confidence isn't in
our brethren. It's not that we trust them to
never do wrong, to never say the wrong thing, to never hurt
us, to never offend us. That's not where the confidence
lies, but we love our brethren in faith because we trust Christ. And those who confess Christ,
those who believe the Christ, who love them and gave himself
for them, and the only reason why they love God now is because
of Christ. And we confess it's all of him
and all of his grace. We may love our brethren. We
ought to love our brethren. We shall love our brethren by
the grace and power of God. Again, not because we think they'll
never offend me or hurt me or do wrong. It's because I trust
God who reveals love in me. And there may be trials in loving
your brethren. There will be offenses. There
will be difficulties. There will be hard times. But we're seeking to walk by
faith, graciously toward our brethren, believing that God
is able to keep them, to correct them, to teach them, just as
when we see our sin and we confess our sin to God, We know we've
done wrong. We know we've messed up. And
we're asking him, Lord, have mercy on me. And the hope is
that he does forgive us for Christ's sake, and that he does give us
his spirit, that he does wash us with hyssop and clean us white
as snow. We know God desires truth in
the inward parts. We know that. He teaches us that. Who are we kidding? We're not
mocking God. He shows us. We know. And he
teaches us. And if he does that for me, a
sinner, my hope is that he's doing that for my brother in
Christ, too. And so it is a faith that we
love our brethren. Again, we're trusting the Lord
to teach them and to grow them. And perhaps a brother fails,
and it might be me or you, perhaps a brother fails because the Lord
uses that trial to try our faith in God, those that love that
brother that falls, to try their faith in God and to reveal what
it is to love a brother. Sometimes God's grace is able
to do it. We don't look to sin, but his
grace is able. to teach us, and I would say
that I learn a lot more in trials than I do when times are good
and easy. It's through the difficulties.
It's through those hardships and afflictions and temptations
and difficulties. That's where faith is found,
right? That your faith may be found,
the fiery trial, that your faith may be found. God knows it's
there because he put it there, but that it's revealed to you
and I in the trial, in the fiery trial. So, love your brethren,
not because they're the most lovable, but because you love
God and trust him, and we pray for one another in hope even
as we pray for ourselves, and hoping God, I'm trusting you
to cleanse me, well, pray for your brethren. And I don't know
all your needs, and you don't know all my needs, but God does,
and I'm able to thank God for you. And it's a joy for me to
remember you all before the Lord. and ask that the Lord, he knows
what he's teaching you and what you have need of, and it's probably
very similar to my needs, but there's nuances and differences,
and he knows, he knows. So pray for your brethren and
love them and care for them and trust God to work all that is
good for them, for their good, just as we trust he's working
all things together for our good. And so our love is resting on,
well, if they do this, and only if they do that, and if this
stops and this starts, then I'll love them. Well, that's not what
the Lord is teaching us. Love your brethren. Love them.
Trust the Lord by his grace and power to teach them, instruct
them, correct them, keep them. and do for them exactly what
he's doing for you in that same manner. The same grace you have
and hope that he has for you, extend that to your brethren.
Extend that same grace in courtesy to them and love to them. So
here's a lesson in love. Love leads to action. Love is
actionable. It's an action. It takes action. Look at verse 16, 1 John 3, 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for our brethren. One of the ways that we know
that God loves us is by the gospel, by his teaching us the gospel. We look around in this world
and we see an immense amount of sin, fraud, wickedness, cheating,
murders, death, rape, beating up people. We see all kinds of
things going on here. It's a very sinful world. We
see sin raging in our own hearts. We see the lust of this flesh
raging in our own hearts. Well, how do we know that God
loves us? We see frowning providences,
and we connect them to something that we've done oftentimes. How
do we know God loves us? Well, he reveals it in his word. He shows us that we're sinners. He teaches us that all are sinners,
all are not righteous by nature, but must be righteous to stand
before holy God. And he And he provided the very
righteousness of God in his son. The fullness of the Godhead manifest
in the body, in the body of Christ. The fullness of the Godhead is
in Christ. And Christ came, and he laid
down his life for us. He accomplished our redemption.
He obtained the eternal forgiveness of God for his people. His blood
washes us from our sins. He gives us His Spirit, whereby
we know Him, the wisdom of God. And He reveals that He's our
righteousness, He's our justification, He's our sanctification, He's
our redemption. He shows us that through His
gospel, and He shows us it in love for our brethren. And we take that same love with
which he loved us and laid down his life for us, we're to lay
it down for our brethren. And he teaches us that. He shows
us how to do that. There's not a lot spoken of what
the particulars are of loving your brethren. There's not a
whole list of things, necessarily. We have a good understanding
of them, about being kind, and generous, and gracious, and forgiving
to them, and helping them as they have need. But we're trusting
the Lord that he's manifesting that love in us for them. And so love works. Love is actionable. And I mean that by God didn't
just stand by seeing us going to hell and then hope that we
would figure it out. If your three-year-old child
is heading toward a busy road, do you just say, please don't
go there. Oh, please turn around. Why won't
you listen to mommy? Why won't you listen to daddy?
No, we don't do that. You go out there and you grab
that child and you pull them back. and you deliver them from
that death. And that's what the Lord did.
He did that for us. He didn't hope that we would
believe Christ. He turned our hearts to Christ. He revealed Christ to us. Christ said, no man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. which
is the word drag him, as you would drag a net up from the
ocean onto the shore, up on the beach. You would drag it up.
The Lord, he dragged us to Christ. That doesn't mean that we're
not made willing. He makes us willing, but it was against our
natural will. We would never have come to him.
He made us new creatures. He gives us a spirit. He turned
our hearts, giving us a new heart, and turned it to Christ. And
he draws us to Christ. He brings us to Christ. Christ
had just said in another place to the Jews, you don't hear me
because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And I
know them. And they follow me. They follow
me. And I give unto them. I give
them eternal life. And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And so those
that God loves, he draws them to himself. He draws them to
Christ and he manifests his grace and power in them. He gives them
his spirit whereby the fruits of his spirit are born in us
in that love and in faith and in hope. of his mercy, grace,
and power. And so he chose a people and
gave them to Christ, ensuring their salvation, according as
God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love." In love. He did this. Therefore, there's
none in hell, there's none in hell for whom Christ died. That
one hated by the world because they're Christ's, they are a
citizen of heaven. And he will turn them. He will
deliver them. He will reveal Christ in them,
just as he's revealed Christ in you and given you the hope
of eternal righteousness for Christ's sake, for what Christ
has done. That's my hope. That's where we rest. We rest
in him. He's the successful Savior. as the Lord revealed to Peter
in 2 Peter 3, 9, that the Lord is long suffering to usward,
to usward, to his people whom he manifests faith in, who he
reveals faith in them, not willing that any of us should perish,
but that all of us should come to repentance. You've got to
carry that usward right through the whole verse. The whole verse. And so as God loved you, so loved
his children, whom he's called out and revealed these things
to, and given you a hope in, and a hope in them. There's so
few that come to Christ. Many come to religion. Many practice
religion. But how few come to Christ as
the savior of sinners, as mercy beggars seeking his grace and
mercy. That's a wondrous miracle. Love them. Love them. We have
plenty of enemies in the world. This world hates us, and by his
power, we hate this world. By him keeping us, we see what
this world is. Love your brethren. Love your
brethren. And so God's people who live by his grace and power
have his spirit dwelling in them, and that love is actionable.
Look at verse 17 and 18. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother, have need. Have need. Now, not everyone
has to have the same thing. This isn't communism here. We
don't all have to have the same amount of wealth. Some people
are have been careful and diligent and saved up and didn't spend
their money on McDonald's and blow it away on things. They
were careful. They have what they have because
they worked hard for it and made choices for those things. And
then others made choices to blow that thing. This is talking about
them that have need, that are brought to a need. That can't,
for some reason, just are in a bad spot, and for them, don't
shut your bowels of mercy up toward them that have a need.
Sometimes it's because of their own foolishness and fault, but
there's still some things that we can do to help them in the
hope that they're gonna do things differently, but it's to those
that have need. That one that seeth his brother
have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him. My little children, let
us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. And so, Have compassion for the
true needs of your brethren. Be mindful of them, pray for
them, and seek to help them as you're able. John here sounds
a lot like what James wrote to us, right? In James chapter two,
in verse 14 through 18, he asks, what doth it profit my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith
save him? Is that the faith that God manifests
in us, that someone just says, oh, I believe, I believe, and
then just lives in the world, doing what the world does, just
loving the world and just sinning and having no care of God and
his people? And James goes on, if a brother
or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, they have a true
need, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so,
faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a
man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy
faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by
my works." Now, James is not contradicting Paul. Paul, who
said, a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. And again, he said, a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Paul is speaking
about our justification by God, who justifies us freely, graciously,
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our justification. He is
our righteousness. He is our sanctification. He
is our life, our hope of standing before God, accepted of Him.
It all is fixed and rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. But what James and John are describing
here is the manifestation of God's grace in you. They're saying,
if God be with you, if his spirit is in you, there's a revealing.
There's faith there. There's love there. There's a
care there for your brethren. There's an active love and a
walk of faith. manifest in them that are new
creatures. You can't help it, but show that
you're new creatures. Not because you're trying to
save yourself, but because you are saved, because you are justified,
because you have life. You have passed from death to
life. There's going to be changes. There's going to be a difference.
And so as we see our brother's need, a true need that must be
met, we're made to feel some bowels of love for them, some
movement of compassion, some empathy toward them to seek to
do for them what they have need of doing. And so we seek to love
them. It might be a physical need.
Sometimes someone just needs a hug. Sometimes, or just speak
to them. You don't know. Just tell them
that you're thinking of them, or say hi. That is very meaningful
to people. You don't know what people are
going through. And to some people, they really like that and appreciate
that. It might be a material need. It might be giving them
something like food or a jacket or shoes. It might be putting
them up for a night. You know, that might be something
physical like that. It might be a spiritual thing where you
lift them up to the Father, and you pray for them, and you do
ask for His grace and mercy for them. All right? And so there
are ways that it's shown in us. Now, picking up in verse 19,
hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our
hearts before Him. When we look at a verse like
this and the next three that follow, always tie it back to
the gospel. We know the gospel. It's not
what we do that assures us. It's Christ who is our assurance. We love Christ. We believe Christ. We're fixed in Christ. Our hope
rests entirely in him who came. and lay down his life on the
tree as the sacrifice, as the surety of his people. He is the
one who we believe. He is our confidence before God. We're trusting him. And that
does not change here. And the Holy Spirit ministers
Christ to us according to God's word and power. and gives us
this hope. And so Christ is who we know
that we are of the truth because we are his. And God testifies
that we are his by the grace and power and faith which he
reveals in us. And John says, for if our heart,
in verse 20, condemn us, God is greater than our heart and
knoweth all things. Now, there's two ways to hear
this word. And to one who doesn't love God's
child, they hear this word and they feel the condemnation. Because
they know that they don't care for the people of God. They don't
care for his word. They don't care for him. Well,
if you feel a sense of your own condemnation, how much greater
is God, who knows the heart and knows all things? If you think
you see something, how much more is God able to see something
there? And it's felt. It's felt. And there may be a
conviction there, but the wicked are offended and turned away,
and they harden their heart. But to the child of God in Christ,
we see how we fail, and how we come up short, and how we're
not always there for our brethren, or how we have missed opportunities
to love our brethren and to help them in their hour of need. But our hope and confidence is
that God is greater than our heart and knows all things. And by his grace and love for
us, which sent his son into the world to save us from our sins,
we whose hope is fixed in him may look off of self to Christ,
whom he sent with that burdened heart, with that conviction to
see, I failed again. I've not been the man I ought
to be. in loving my brethren, and caring
for them, and providing for them as they have need. But by his
grace, we may look to Christ again." And that's what the child
of God does. It's not because we see perfection
in ourselves. It's because we see perfection
in him. and we desire him and to be like him who loved us and
cared for us. We want to be kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven us. We want to walk as dear children
of our God. who called us and teaches us
that we want to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling savor, that we may worship God in spirit
and in truth. And that's really what it comes
down to. when you're loving your brethren, right? It is actionable,
and it is the hope that the Lord would continue to gather us together
to feed his sheep with the heavenly bread without distraction, in
peace, that each may receive that piece of fish and bread
as they have need from the Lord, who sets us down and makes us
to hear what he's provided for us. All right, picking up then
in verse 21. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then have we confidence toward God, so that the heart
theirs is humbled by God, and looks up toward Him who loved
us when we were yet enemies, but delivered up His Son for
us, and we have confidence toward God for Christ's sake. And he
brings this to bear in our hearts. in our hearts by His grace. Now
verse 22, that whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because
we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing
in His sight. And the sight that we have is
of Christ, who gives us faith in him. That's our hope and our
confidence, that we are Christ's, that he has turned us from death
to life, that he has manifested his grace in us, that he's given
us his spirit. It's a testimony of what he's
done. The sight is of Christ. And that's why I say you always
have to go back and anchor it to the gospel. and trust Him. We want to see these manifestations
of His grace, of His fruit, but trust Him to do it. Seek Him
to do it. Confess your sin to Him and ask
Him to give to turn your heart and to keep you. And I know that's
what John says because he confirms it in verse 23. And this is his
commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. It's always fixed in Christ. That's who we look to. That's
who we are to believe. The commandment is look to Christ. Look to Christ. And he gives
his spirit and there will be love for your brethren who are
looking to Christ and trusting him. And he, verse 24, He that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him, and hereby
we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given
us." That is the manifestation of the new man, of the new creature
in us that hears Christ, hears his voice, and follows him. believes him, walks in faith. So again, remember, love your
brethren. And it is a walk of faith. And
you can trust God that as he's teaching you and keeping you,
he's doing it for your brethren, too. Believe him. And love your
brethren in that light and in that understanding of his grace
for you. Amen.