Turn with me in your Bibles this
morning to 1 John chapter 3. This morning I'm going to continue
on the subject of brotherly love and godly hatred. Or worldly
hatred, rather. There is a godly hatred. And
I have that in my notes, the reason I said that. But that's
a righteous hatred. We're going to talk about that
just a bit. A brotherly love and worldly hatred. Here in three
verses, beginning at verse 13 of 1 John chapter 3, we have
three basic points. And John has a way of bringing
things down to our level, which we need done, to show us that
things that we may see as high-minded or deep theologically are not
so high-minded and not so deep as we think. They're just plain
The problem is, is that by nature we don't want to face the issues
of reality. We're like the person that James
spoke of in James chapter 1, who when he comes to the mirror,
or when she comes to the mirror, she doesn't necessarily like
what she sees, so she turns away and forgets it. But the word
of God is sharp, the scripture teaches us, like a two-edged
sword. It cuts asunder to the thoughts
and the intents of the heart. And that's the way it is. And
we'll either face it now or we'll have to face it later when it's
too late. And that's a shame because we
have it right here. For example, he speaks of worldly
hatred in verse 13. Marvel not my brethren if the
world hates you. As I spoke upon this the last
time, we saw there that the world is anything of the world. this earth concerning fallen
humanity, fallen human nature, any government, any philosophy,
or, and listen to this now, any religion that is opposed to the
gospel of God's grace in Christ. Now, that's what he's speaking
of. And I'm going to show you that in plain and simple terms
from the scripture, because John goes back to precedent. You know,
if any of you have been to court and you've seen lawyers do their
work and judges do their work, they always like to have a case
upon which they can base their ruling. They call it a precedent.
They go back. They say, well, do you have any
cases like this where rulings have been made in the past? Well,
we've got one right here in the Bible. And John goes back to
it. It goes all the way back to the
first Revelation, the first example of two men seeking acceptance
from God, coming to worship God in two different ways. One's
name was Cain and one's name was Abel. So we're going to go
back to precedent today. We're going to show you, and
it's simple, but that precedent stands all the way through time.
We're going to see that. But this worldly hatred that
he speaks of is a reality, and that's what he's talking about.
And you might even ask it this way, and I'm not here just trying
to offend people or get a rise out of them, but somebody might
ask, well, I don't hate anybody. Well, now, here's what I want
you to do this morning, and this is what I want to do for myself.
What does God's Word say about me in that area? That's what
I want you to do. You know, the moment, whenever
you think about hate, you think about love or anything, goodness,
holiness, righteousness, sin, the moment you start saying,
well, let me tell you what I think, I'll tell you, you're going wrong.
Because it really doesn't matter what you think, unless your thinking
has been subjected to God's thinking, right here. So what we're interested
in when we study these subjects is what does God's word say?
What does God think? That's what I want to know. What
does God think? Well, he says, marvel not, my
brethren, if the world hates you. That's the ungodly world.
That's the unregenerate world. That's the world in opposition
to Christ. The world in opposition to the
truth of the gospel of God's grace. I don't care how it looks,
how it appears, how sincere they are. Take, for example, the Jews
in Paul's day. When Saul was a Jew, he was a
Pharisee, and God saved him and brought him to repentance, which
is a total change of heart and change of mind. It's a 180-degree
turn. He was going north, now he's
going south, he's going the opposite direction. And he began preaching
Christ and him crucified, and the Jews would not have it. They
would not have salvation by the grace of God. They had to have
their works, you see. And when Paul started preaching
it, they hated him. They hated his message. Now,
somebody says, well, I don't hate Paul. I hate his message.
God's Word says that's not right. That's not the right way of thinking.
You hate Paul's God, you hate Paul. That's right. If you hate his Christ, you hate
him. If you hate the way of salvation by God's grace in Christ, you
hate the people of grace. Now, you may not You may not
be unpleasant towards them, you may express that in different
ways. But this is what God's word says, and that's the issue.
That's why Christ told his disciples in Luke chapter 6 and verse 22,
he said, blessed are you when men shall hate you and when they
shall separate you from their company. Get away from us, that's
what he's saying. And shall reproach you and cast
out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. This is the
world. He told his disciples in John
15, marvel not if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated
you. This is the issue. Look over at Matthew chapter
5. Look there with me. This is the Beatitudes in the
Sermon on the Mount, the very first teaching. And let me tell
you something about this. Now, if you'll follow this along
in Scripture now, And see what God says, you'll get some understanding
of this by the power of the Spirit, if God be pleased to reveal it.
And he says in verse 10, now look at verse 9 first. Now verse
9 he says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. Now he's talking about the children
of God there. Obviously, they shall be called
the children of God, the peacemakers. He's not talking about peace
between God and sinners here. Because for one thing, peacemakers
is plural. Let me tell you something. If
it's peace between God and his people, there's only one peacemaker
there, and that's Christ. But he says peacemakers plural.
He's talking about people. He's talking about brethren.
And I go to stand red there in Psalm 122. Pray for the peace
of Jerusalem. That's not talking about The
city of Jerusalem, that's talking about heavenly Jerusalem. That's
talking about the church. It's good and pleasant. I read
it in Psalm 133, for brethren to dwell together in unity. We're
to be peacemakers. Now, we're to try to make peace
with all men. But sometimes we don't have control
over that. Well, we never have control over
it, do we? But sometimes that's out of the
bounds of our reaching. We can't have peace with the
world. But we're to have peace within, peace within the brethren,
and we're to be peacemakers. Well, but the same one, he says,
blessed are they who are peacemakers. Look at verse 10. He said, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. Now,
who's going to persecute a peacemaker? Well, that's exactly what John's
talking about. The world is. Because you see,
this righteousness sake here is not just morality. And that's
the way the world interprets it. For righteousness sake here
is the gospel. Blessed are you which are persecuted
for the gospel sake. The gospel of how God saved sinners,
not by works of righteousness which we've done and are so proud
of, but by the works of Christ. his obedience unto death. And
he goes on, he says, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But
look at verse 11, he said, blessed are you when men shall revile
you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. And then he tells believers,
he says, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward
in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you. Now, why did they persecute the
prophets? They didn't, they hated the prophets' message. The prophet's
message, the preacher's message, the true preacher, leaves a sinner
with no hope but Christ and him crucified. It leaves him with
no refuge but the grace of God in Christ. And listen to me now. It leaves a sinner with nothing
to boast in or to be proud of but Christ and what he accomplished
on Calvary. And that's why men and women
hate this message. They want to talk about conditions
they have met. They want to talk about works
that they have done or have been enabled to do. They don't want
to honor God alone, Christ alone, his grace alone. And they hate
the message. But look down at verse 20. You
say, well, you know, if you just say that, people may not hate
you. Well, now look, look, look at
verse 20. Christ says in Matthew 520, for I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of,"
now look at it, the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. What? Now, we have a
tough time empathizing with that because we just don't live in
the days These men, the scribes and the Pharisees, we live in
a day of scribes and Pharisees, don't get me wrong, they're all
around us. But when those terms come up, we just don't see it
the way that they saw it. It's like this, you know, these
scribes and Pharisees were the most, these were the most admired
men in religion of their day. I mean, these were the best-selling
authors in the Christian bookstore, not Christian, in the Jewish
bookstore. I'm telling you the truth now. You pick out the most
respected preacher of the day, who's got the biggest following,
but who does not preach salvation by God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. And I will tell you, except your
righteousness exceed his, you shall in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven. Now, you think about names. of men that people respect
and admire and watch on TV and buy their books, but in reality
do not preach Christ and Him crucified. Preach the truth of
this gospel." There's only one gospel. And you think about naming
those names, and you think about how people would think, well,
they'd turn me off the TV. Well, he says, so-and-so's lost. Well, if Dr. So-and-so doesn't
preach this message of grace, yes, he is. That's the issue here. And that's
what brings on the world's hatred, you see. They hate the light.
We saw it last week in John chapter 3. This is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world. Christ and men love
darkness instead of light. Somebody says, well, I don't
really believe the gospel, but I don't really hate Christ or
hate his people. Christ said, no man can serve
two masters, for either he'll hate the one and love the other,
Or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon. You're not for me, you're against
me, he says. That's what God says. Who is
it that hates Christ and his brethren? I'll tell you exactly
who it is. Unbelievers. Unregenerate. I know I was there. I didn't hate religion before
I was born again. I loved religion. went to the
seminary. I didn't hate preaching, necessarily. But when I heard a man stand
up behind this pulpit, this very pulpit, in fact, and preach the
glory of the true Savior and the reality of his grace and
what that meant for a sinner like me, I'll tell you what,
that got a rise out of me. And I didn't want to hear any
more of it. I didn't. That's when it hit me, when I
realized what he was telling me. And then God, as the scripture
says, broke the wild ass' coat and put a bribe on his mouth.
Brought him to a saving knowledge of Christ. Unbelievers express
their hatred in different ways. Some do it like Cain did it,
some do it like Saul of Tarsus did it, but some are just indifferent.
Others outwardly claim they love us, but either way they hate
our God. They hate our safety, they hate the truth, they don't
believe it. So don't be amazed at that. Now, this worldly hatred
is exemplified in Cain and Abel. Look back at verse 11 of 1 John
3. Look at this. Now, he says, verse
11, "...for this is the message that you heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another." Now, he's talking about brotherly
love there. Now, we're to love all without exception in the
sense that we desire their salvation. And sometimes we have to tell
the truth. Well, all the time we have to tell the truth on
that. It's just like I've used the example of a physician. If
a person has a pain, they go to a doctor. I'm sure the doctor,
I hope the doctor doesn't enjoy going in and saying, you have
cancer, or you have heart disease, or you have some terminal illness.
But I'll tell you what, he's your best friend if he's telling
you the truth, isn't he? If somebody sees that you're
on the broad road that leads to destruction based upon your
testimony, which is against the scripture, against the grace
of God, against the one true way of salvation, Christ and
Him crucified, wouldn't they be your best friend and express
the most love towards you if they came and told you that you're
on the road to destruction? Or would they be... Paul told
the Galatians who were being confused and who were being being
led into salvation by works. He told them the truth. He said,
those men who are coming in and preaching to you, they're men
of great reputation. They're men of great eloquence
and intelligence. But he said, let me tell you
how it is. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let them
be anathema. That's a curse. And when some of them got mad,
he'd say, am I your enemy because I'm telling you the truth? Most people in religion say,
well, don't rock my boat. I'm at peace out here. Leave
me alone. Jeremiah, the prophet, comes
along and says, Israel, you're doomed. Judah, you're doomed.
You're out of favor with God. You're worshiping idols. That's
Jeremiah. He's just one man, isn't he?
Here come 450 different ones, and they say, don't listen to
Jeremiah. Peace, peace, peace. Now, who's telling you the truth?
Who's telling you a lie? Which message sounds more loving
to the world? You're doomed? You're on your
way to a devil's hell? Or, smile, God loves you. Which message sounds more loving
to the world? Which message is more loving
to God? Whichever one you choose, Isn't
that right? Well, Christ said it. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And here, preachers today, they'll
say anybody, say, it doesn't matter. I've heard one famous
evangelist say, he calls himself an evangelist. That means spreading
good news. I believe he's spreading bad
news. He said, I believe men can get to heaven without believing
in Christ and looking to him. Buddhists, Muslims, whatever,
and the world embraces it. Now, what if he had told the
truth? Do you see the difference? Well, look at verse 12 of 1 John
3. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, slew his brother.
And why did he slay him? Because his own works were evil,
and his brother's righteous. You see, Cain hated and murdered
Abraham. Cain was of the wicked one, he flew his brother." You
know, murder is the lowest form of human relationship. Cain was
jealous of Abel. He hated Abel and he murdered
him because God accepted Abel's sacrifice and would not accept
Cain's offering. Abel exemplifies the religion
of grace, the religion of Christ and him crucified. Cain exemplifies
the religion of man's works and human achievement, human endeavor. Grace and works will not mix.
That's the truth. Now look at verse 14. Now here's
brotherly love. He says, Now we know that we
pass from death unto life, because we love the brethren. And he
that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Now, believers know
that we have been born again. That's what that means when he
says, passed from death unto life. That means to be born again
by the Spirit. It means we've been given life.
We're born dead in trespasses and sins. We've been regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit. We've been given life. We've
been given faith, repentance, knowledge. The love of God has
been shed abroad in our hearts, and this is evidence in many
ways, but here John's speaking of a specific way. It's evidenced
by our love to the brethren. What is he saying? We love those
whom the world hates. That's what he's saying. We stand
with those whom the world hates. We love Abel whom Cain hates. We stand with Abel whom Cain
hates. That's what he's saying. We fellowship
and worship with those whom the world hates. We take sides with
and remain loyal to those whom the world hates because of the
truth. We suffer with those whom the
world hates. When they're persecuted, we're
persecuted too. When they're persecuted, we don't
back off and say, get him, boys. What he's saying? We suffer with
them because we suffer with Christ. That's one of the main evidences
that we're the children of God. We suffer with him when we take
side with him against the world. We love him. David said it in
Psalm 119, he said, I love thy law and I hate every false way.
And that's one of the greatest expressions of our love to him
when we love the brethren. You see, brethren suffer together
with Christ. when we take side with him and
with each other against the world. We love Christ, whom the world
hates, and we love our brethren, whom the world hates." Now, someone
asked, but aren't we commanded to love everyone equally? Yes,
but not in the same way. Now, I've already explained that,
but I want us to get this. We're to love our enemies. Turn back over to Matthew chapter
5. The Scripture says we're to love our enemies. This is the same passage here,
the Sermon on the Mount. Look at Matthew chapter 5, look
at verse 43. Now he says, You've heard that
it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. Now that never was the Word of God. That was the tradition
of men. So you've heard it said, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you,
love your enemy." This is Christ telling us to love our enemy.
Bless them that curse you. Bless them that hate you. He
says, do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise
on the evil and on the good, sendeth rain on the just and
on the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you?" Now, that doesn't evidence anything
except what the world evidences. Do not even the publicans the
same? You know what a publican was?
It was a turncoat. He was one who collected taxes
for the Roman government against his own people, and they hated
him. So he says in verse 47, and if you salute your brethren
only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? He said, I said, love your enemy.
Now by this, I'll tell you what, when the Bible commands us to
love our enemies, I'm going to tell you one of the first things
that ought to come to mind to any of us who are honest is it
shows us how far short our love is of the perfection that God
requires. Look at verse 48. Be ye therefore
perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Love your enemies. Now, you know,
the Pharisees had a little way of getting around that. You know,
talking about love your neighbor. Well, who is my neighbor? Well,
first of all, that question should never enter your mind. Who is
my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Everybody.
And they tried to get around that and say, well, this one's
my neighbor, but this one's not. I love him, I hate him. And that's
okay. So, you know, you know how we
are. That's how we're going to finagle around. But, you know,
Christ put that thing to rest in the parable of the good Samaritan. That's what he was teaching there.
You take a Samaritan whom the Jews hated with an abject hatred, and you know what happened. Here
that man fell in the street, the priest went by, another went
by, another went by, but here comes a Samaritan, a hated Samaritan. reaches down, helps him, takes
him to the tavern, lodges him, gives the man money to take care
of him, and gets the marriage. Who's our neighbor? Everybody's
our neighbor. That's right. And you can't get
around that, so don't go picking and choosing your neighbors.
It's not just the guy who owns the house beside you, or the
other side. It's everybody. Even our worst
enemy. So here's the kind of love that
the law requires. That person who is your worst
enemy, who would do you the most harm, or who would do your family
the most harm, you're required to love without any thought of
vengeance or restitution. You're required to love that
person. Now, no wonder salvation cannot be based upon our own
righteousness. You say, well, are you saying
I'm not to defend myself? No, I'm not saying that at all.
Don't get silly. But you know exactly what I'm
talking about. Every one of you does. We're
to love perfectly. That's how our Lord loved. And
I'll tell you the kind of people he saved. The Bible says in Romans
chapter 5 that he saved his enemies. He gave himself for his enemies. So yes, we are required to love
our enemies. But back here in 1 John 3, now
go back. Brotherly love here is the new
commandment. Remember he said over in 1 John
2, I give you a new commandment? It's different, and it's distinct. So yes, we're to love our enemies,
love our neighbors, but not with the same kind of love. And I'm
not lessening it, I'm not lowering it, and I'm not trying to finagle
it around like a lawyer, but let me tell you something. Let
me give you an example that we all can understand. If your enemy
goes after one of your children, you are not to take sides with
that enemy and destroy your children, are you? Absolutely not. You defend your child. That's
right. But you're still to love your
enemy. That's what the law requires. Somebody says, well, nobody can
do that. That's right. And that's why
salvation is by grace. and not by your work. God loved
His people. We hated His only begotten Son,
hanging Him to a cross. Isn't that right? But you think
about it, we can't even listen. Most of the time, we can't even
get along with our friends, let alone love our enemy. Isn't
that right? Your own family members who you
love, you have any family problems. Don't get into that. Let's just let that one go on
by today. We'll deal with that another time. But you think about
it. We have a hard time loving our
friends. So we're, I tell you, we're just
pitiful creatures. That's why if God doesn't save
us by grace, mercy, there'll be no salvation. It's of the
Lord's mercy that any of us are not consumed. But brotherly love is a special
love. It's a love that only brethren
have for one another. It's a love that's divine. We
don't have it by nature. We've talked about this. God
gives it to us. It's the product of what Christ
has accomplished for us on Calvary as he sheds abroad that love
in our hearts by the blood of Christ applied in the Holy Spirit. None of us have it before we're
born again. But let me give you three things
about this brotherly love. It's brotherly love, it's different,
it's distinct. How? Number one, true brotherly love
respects and regards the honor of God first and foremost. The honor of God. His redemptive
glory revealed in the salvation of sinners by Christ. In other
words, if it proves godly love, it's going to motivate you and
set your interest and your focus upon God being honored. You know,
if you really love somebody, you'll do everything you can
do for them. You'll do everything you can do to protect their reputation. I've had people... You've had
this happen. People who talk about love all the time, brag
about their love, and they'll spread rumors. They'll talk about
people. I can't wait to hear a rumor. to hear something negative, and
then go out and brag about their life. If you really love somebody,
you'll do everything you can do to protect their reputation. You men and your wives. Somebody
comes along and starts downgrading your wife. How does that make
you feel? Gets you up, doesn't it? You're
going to protect her, and you wives your husband. Well, see,
godly love, brotherly love respects, first and foremost, God's honor.
When I hear somebody preaching, I hear preachers preaching, and
they tell a lie on God. Now, they do it ignorantly. Somebody
says, well, you ought to feel sorry for them. Well, I do. But
I'm not going to side with them in their message that lies on
my Heavenly Father. I'm not going to promote their
message that lies on my heavenly father. You see what I'm saying?
When they say God is like men, I'm going to say, oh, no. Oh,
no, that's an idol. Anybody who's worshiping that
God is an idolater. You say, but they're so sincere.
Well, so is a drug pusher. He's just as sincere as he can
be trying to destroy people's physical bodies by selling his
drugs and making himself rich. But I'm not going to side with
him and promote him and rock arms with him and say, let's
go sell those drugs, fella. You see, if it's true brotherly
love, it's going to respect first and foremost the honor of the
Heavenly Father. Secondly, True brotherly love
will not promote ourselves and others in evil and unbelief or
disobedience. If I know, based on God's Word,
that somebody is doing something that is evil, now, it may make
them mad if I go up and say, Stop it! But I need to do that, don't
I? And they may say, if I do lock arms with them and say,
let's go do that evil together, well, we'll both be happy, maybe. Let me show you what I mean.
Come back to Genesis chapter 4. Now, this is Cain and Abel
here. I want you to listen to this
very carefully. Now, here's Cain and Abel. Now, this is after the fall.
Adam and Eve have fallen, Adam fell. The whole human race fell
on Adam. You know what happened? Adam
and Eve sewed big leaf aprons together to cover their nakedness.
That's a symbolic act, I believe, to show man's effort to shield
himself from the wrath of God, and it was futile. There is no
way that man can do anything to shield himself from the wrath
of God. It takes the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. and his righteousness alone to
shield you from the wrath of God. Anything else won't do.
And so God took those fig leaf aprons off, and it says here
in Genesis chapter 3 that he flew an animal. He killed an
animal. That's the first blood that was
shed on earth, the blood of an animal. And he made them coats
of skin and put around He made out of the hide of that animal,
he made coat for Adam and Eve. Now, I don't believe it's a stretch
in the Bible to say that that's when God instituted through types
and pictures and shadows the sacrificial system, sacrificing
animals as a type and a picture and a foreshadowing of how he
saved sinners through the blood of Christ. The animal had to be killed.
That's picturing how sin demands death. For the souls of sinners
must surely die. The wages of sin is death. That's
what sin deserves, death. God cannot save a sinner without
death. Am I right? And so there's only two ways
here. There's only the way of eternal death for the sinner
himself or the death of a substitute, one that was appointed of God,
one that was qualified, and one that is willing. And there's
only one, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one whom God appointed.
God never appointed anything else or anyone else to be your
substitute. He's the only one who's qualified.
He's God and man in one person. And he's the only one who was
willing to die that death for his people. He took our place
on Calvary, shed his precious blood. Now, God pictured that.
He'd already revealed it in the Word when he prophesied of the
coming of the Messiah in Genesis 3, 15, the seed of woman. So
he pictured that and established it. Well, the next scene in Genesis
4 is Eve has two sons, Cain and Abel. And it says up here, Cain,
he was a tiller of the ground. He was a farmer. Abel was a shepherd. In verse 3, look at verse 3 of
Genesis 4, it says, And in the process of time it came to pass
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto
the Lord. Now, what's wrong with that? Well, back over in Genesis
3, read it sometimes. Number one, the ground was cursed.
So Cain brought something to offer to God that was from the
cursed ground. And secondly, God had already
established that without the shedding of blood, there's no
remission, no forgiveness of sins. But Cain thought in his
mind, well, my way is just as good. I've worked hard. I'll
bring the best that I have of my crops to God and see if he'll
accept that. So he brought the offering of
the of the ground. Verse 4, Abel, he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof. That means
he killed that firstling of the flock. Had to be a lamb without
spot, without blemish. Had to be shed blood. The fat
represents the goodness of it. And it says, "...and the Lord
had respect unto Abel unto his offering, but unto Cain unto
his offering he had not respect." In other words, the Lord accepted
Abel's offering. It was the offering of blood.
It represented Christ on the cross, shedding his blood as
payment for the sins of his people. It represented the righteousness
not of Abel, but of another. imputed to Abel, legally accounted
to Abel. Abel and his work were righteous. Why? Because he brought the blood. I know preachers, when they preach
on this, they used to say, well, Abel was sincere and Cain wasn't.
How do you know that? I believe both of them were sincere. The only thing it tells us here
in the Word of God, this is God's mind now, Abel brought the blood
of lamb, Cain brought the fruit of the ground, his hard work.
The best work. And then it says, and Cain was
very wroth, that means he's very angry, verse 5. And his countenance
fell, you can see it in his face, that's why we say so. You ever
see somebody go from happy to angry, you know? You can see
it in his face. He couldn't hide it. He was so
angry, he couldn't hide it. Verse 6, look at it. It says,
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wrong? Why art thou
angry? Now, God never asks questions to find out information like
us. He's making a point. Now, why are you angry? What
he's saying is, here's what he's really saying to Cain. He says,
Cain, what right do you have to be angry? Look at it again, verse 5, or
verse 6, and the Lord said, What right do you have to be angry?
And why is thy countenance fallen? Verse 7, If thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted? Now, my question to you, what
is it to do well? In Genesis 4, do what Abel did,
bring the blood of the Lamb, come as a sinner seeking mercy
from God. That's what it is. bring the
blood. You want to do well before God,
look to Christ. Isn't that right? Am I telling the truth, folks?
You want to do well before a holy God, you want to be accepted,
you want to be forgiven, you want to be blessed before a holy
God, plead the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what Abel was doing. Now, if you want to be
turned away, just bring the best you can offer like Cain. There's
the issue, grace versus work. So he says, if thou doest well,
shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth
at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him. What he's saying here is basically,
Cain, if you don't bring the blood of the Lamb, sin's at your
door, and it's going to finish you off. Now, what I need as a sinner
is one who can come and take my place and finish sin off. That's what Daniel chapter 9
and verse 24 says Christ would do. He would make an end of sin.
He'd finish it off. He'd finish the transgression.
Well, look at verse 8 now. Now, here's where we get down
to the issue of love, brotherly love. Well, it says, now, God
spoke with Cain and he said, this is the, what right do you
have to be angels? I told you to bring the blood.
You chose to bring some other way. You think you had a better
way. Well, I'm showing you that it's not. That's what God's saying
to Cain. Well, here's the first thing that Cain did. Now, look
at what he did now. The first thing he does, verse
8, And Cain talked with Abel his brother. He went and talked to Abel. Now,
what do you suppose he said to Abel? It really is not recorded
here. what he said to Abel. But it's
recorded what happened next. He says, And Cain talked with
Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the
field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him,
killed him. Go back to 1 John 3. Let me give you what I don't
believe is some undue speculation on what Cain said to Abel. God
turned Cain away because he didn't bring the blood. He'll turn you
away too if you don't bring the blood. Turn me away. You see,
I have no hope, I have no salvation, I have no rights with God except
through the blood and righteousness of Christ. So here Cain, he goes
to Abel and he said, Abel, what do you think about what just
went on? Where do you stand? Do you think I'm wrong? Do you
think I'm under the wrath of God? What do you think Abel said
to him? No, Cain, you're okay. God's
being a little too narrow. He's being too strict. Your way's
just as good as mine. Well, I guarantee you, if Abel
had said that, Cain wouldn't have slid him. Abel said, I agree with God,
Cain. You see, God's honor is involved here. And what you did
is evil, and I can't promote it. I can't promote you in there.
It's evil. It's wicked. It's idolatry. It's self-righteous. It's a road
to destruction. That's right. Now, where does
this brotherly love come in? Well, let's say that I came up
to Cain and Abel. And I looked at both of them
and I said, well, now, Abel, you're being a little too hard.
Cain's okay. I mean, he just got his way.
We're all worshiping the same God. We're just going different
roads. Now, what would I have been doing
there? I'd been siding with Cain against Abel. But what if I said,
Cain, I agree with Abel. You're lost, friends. And I love
you. I love you enough to tell you
that the way you're going is the way of destruction. The only
way you need to go is the way of Christ. I'll tell you what
would have happened. Cain would have had two fellows
to kill. That's what brotherly love is.
That's not all it is. It goes on further. Let me give
you this last one, and then I'll close. As I said, true brotherly
love will side with Abel in the truth against Cain. It will defend,
it will promote and be loyal to Abel in the gospel of Christ. That's what it'll do. In verse
15 of 1 John 3, he says, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.
And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
him. Now, that's a deep subject. Not because it's hard to be understood. but because it's hard to accept.
But do you know something? If we take sides with Cain against
Abel, what does that make us? Murderers. Cain murdered Abel. You say, well, I don't want to
murder anybody. Cain did. And if you promote Cain, and
if you side with Cain against Abel, what does that make us?
You say, well, you know, we can agree to disagree. Maybe so,
but there are some who can't. And when you take sides with
those against the Lord and his people, what does that make you?
A murderer. Well, we'll deal with that some
more next week. But it is an eye-opener, isn't
it? It really is. All right. Let's
sing hymn number 226, My Savior, 226.