Open your Bibles with me this
morning to 1 John chapter 3. Now this morning I'm going to
speak to you on the subject, abiding in truth and love. Abiding in truth and love. That's the subject of this message
of God in His Word. from 1 John chapter 3. Now, before
I get into these verses, I want to read you a verse from Revelation,
the book of Revelation. Let me just read it to you, Revelation
1-3. And it goes like this, it says, Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those
things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Now,
you may think that that just refers to what's written in the
book of Revelation, but that truth that is expressed there
applies to the whole Word of God. When you hear the term prophecy,
you think of foretelling the future, but in the Bible, prophecy
is just preaching or speaking forth the Word of God. Prophetic
words are words of God by revelation through His prophets. Sometimes
that involves predicting the future as God reveals it, or
revealing the future, rather, as God reveals it. But that certainly
applies to the whole Word of God. Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those
things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Now, the reason I wanted to read
that verse before we get into 1 John 3 is to stress the importance
of what God's Word has for us in this passage specifically
concerning the identification of the people of God. Last week
I spoke to you on the great division as John in this epistle here
is making a clear distinction between the saved and the lost.
He's making a clear distinction between the children of God and
what he refers to as the children of the devil. Look at verse 10
of 1 John 3. He said, in this the children
of God are manifest, revealed, and the children of the devil.
That's a clear distinction. The key to it is found up in
verse 6. Look at verse 6. Whosoever abideth
in him. The him there is Christ. Whosoever
abideth in him, continueth in him. That's what he's talking
about. That means to believe in him. It means to rest in Him,
rest in Christ for all of salvation. Trust Him. It means to follow
Him in His Word. And he said, Whosoever abideth
in Him sinneth not, and whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither
known Him. The passage that Brother Joe
just read in John 15 is a good description of that too, when
he's speaking to his disciples. He had spoken to them on being
in Him, abiding in Him, and bearing fruit, that is, fruit from the
power and grace of God. And He had spoken of those religionists
who had heard the gospel and rejected it because it exposed
them for what they are. Abiding in Christ. What does
that mean? It means, number one, believing, resting in, following
Christ as our whole salvation. I have no other plea. I have
no other assurance, I have no other peace but Christ and Him
crucified." It means to be in fellowship with the Father and
the Son as John described over in 1 John 1. It means to walk
in the light. It means to walk in truth as
it is revealed by God, confessing our sins, confessing our weakness,
our impotence, repenting of dead works, that is, man's efforts
to save himself, trusting Christ and Him alone. It means to keep
His commandments. Now, that doesn't mean sinless
perfection. If it did, then none of us are in Him, none of us
are saved. But that's not what it means. It means to believe
in Him, to follow Him, to seek to do His will, not to be saved,
but because by His grace and power and goodness we already
are. It means to seek to follow Him
and obey Him, not just because of what we can get out of but
because of grace, because of gratitude, because of love. And
then it means to love the brethren. He speaks quite a bit of that.
We've spoken of it before when we studied 1 John chapter 2.
Loving the brethren. Loving the family of God. And
he's going to speak quite a bit more of that in these following
verses here in chapter 3. Those whom God has saved and
called into his church. John used the term doeth righteousness
here in 1 John 3 to identify the children of God. They're
born again by the Spirit and they do righteousness. He used
the term commit a sin to identify children of the devil. That's
unbelievers, unregenerate. He says this very plainly. He
makes this distinction. He says children of God doeth
righteousness. What does that mean? That means
they abide in Christ. He says they cannot sin. What
does that mean? It means they cannot deny, leave,
or forsake Christ totally, as they did over here described
in 1 John 2 and verse 19, where it says they went out from us,
but they were not of us. They left it. And the reason
we can't leave it is because of the powerful seed of the Word
of God that's been implanted by the Holy Spirit in the new
birth. We have an unction, he says from on high. The Holy Spirit
has convinced us. of the truth. And we can't leave
it and it cannot leave us. Cannot be condemned under the
law or be brought under condemnation. Why? Because we're washed in
the precious blood of Christ. We're clothed in his righteousness.
And we can rightly say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 8, who
shall anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Look at verse 8 of 1 John 3.
He says this, he says, he that committeth sin is of the devil.
Now, remember, that's referring to an unregenerate person, an
unbeliever, one who does not believe in or abide in Christ.
And he says, "...for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was manifested."
He was revealed and sent to this world that he might destroy the
works of the devil. Now, Christ has destroyed the
works of the devil in two ways. Now, listen to this. He did it
legally on the cross as he removed the ground of condemnation. He
put away the sins of his people. That's what he says back up here
in verse 5. He says, and you know that Christ
was manifested to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. When Christ died on the cross,
he died for the sins of his people, legally accounted to him. He
suffered, bled, and died, and paid their sin debt in full,
and he destroyed the works of the devil. He said that over
in John 12. We read that last week. He said, and I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. He says,
now is the prince of this world judged. And all that, the charges
of Satan, that can be hurled at the people of God will not
find their mark because Christ took their punishment. He took
our punishment on the tree, and he died for our sins. But he
destroys the works of the devil in another way, and that is spiritually
in the new birth. Now look at verse 29 of chapter
2. He says, if you know that he,
that is, Christ is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of him. Born of God. Speaking of the
same thing that he taught Nicodemus in John chapter 3, you must be
born again. He says over in John chapter
8, turn there with me, and look at this. You know, people, we talk about
people today, they don't understand the work of the Holy Spirit,
the work of God. Well, another thing they don't
understand is the work of the devil. Most of what people think
about as the work of the devil they get from movies and television.
And they get this picture in their mind of somebody with horns
and a pitchfork and a tail, or who comes out with some weird
kind of a horrible, like a horror movie. But the Bible teaches
something different about Satan. Satan is deceptive. He disguises
himself as an angel of light. And let me tell you now, his
main goal is to get a sinner anywhere he can get him except
in Christ. That's right. He would be perfectly
content to have you in a false profession of religion, trusting
in your own works, trusting in the arm of the flesh, trusting
in anyone but Christ and Him crucified. Here the Lord Jesus
Christ is speaking to religious people, zealous, sincere people. leaders of the community, religious
leaders who appeared outwardly righteous to men. And he says
in John chapter 8, look at verse 44. John 8, well look up at verse
41. Now listen to this. He had told
them, listen, to deny Christ, to reject Christ, to refuse to
believe and trust in Him is to be lost. That's what it is. And they answered him. Now here's
their answer to him. They said in verse 42 or verse
41, he said to them, you do the deeds of your father, talking
to the Pharisees, the religious people. Then said they to him,
we be not born of fornication, that is of idolatry. What they
were actually saying there is we're not like the Gentiles.
We were born Jews. We were born children of Abraham.
We were born in the Holy Land. Something like that. We're not
born of fortification. We have one Father, even God.
And Jesus said unto them, verse 42, if God were your Father,
that is spiritually, you would love me. How do I know God is
my spiritual Father? That I can say with the Apostle
in Romans chapter 8, Abba, Father, Papa, Papa. How can I know that
God is my heavenly Father, spiritually speaking? There's only one way. Do you love Christ? Do you follow
him? Do you rest in him? Is he your
all in all? Is he your hope, your assurance,
your peace, your salvation? Is the forgiveness of all your
sins wrapped up in what he accomplished at Calvary? Is your right standing
before God in him and him alone? And that's what he's saying here.
He says, you would love me. He says, verse 42, for I proceeded
forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear my word." Look at verse
44 now. "'You are of your father the
devil, and the lust of your father you will do.'" That lust there
is an unlawful desire, an unlawful way of acting. And he said, "'He
was a murderer from the beginning.'" And how did he murder? Satan
didn't draw out a sword and cut anybody's head off in the beginning. In the beginning there, speaking
of the Garden of Eden, when man fell. What did Satan do to bring
about death? What did he do? Well, look here.
He says, he abode not in the truth. What's our subject over
in 1 John 3? Abiding in truth and abiding
in love. Truth and love. You know the
greatest weapon you have against Satan? Don't bring some guy in
a funny collar in to do this and sling water all over the
place. The greatest defense you have against Satan is the truth,
as it is in Christ. That's right. He abode not in
the truth. He brought doubts to ease mine
as to what God said. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Hath God said, hath God said,
you shall surely die. Satan said, no, you shall not
surely die. Now, who's true? Whose word is
true? God's or Satan's? That's the issue, isn't it? God
says that He will save any sinner who comes to Him through Christ. And God says everyone else shall
be damned. Satan says, not so. There are
other ways. Your way is just as good as that
way. And you're sincere, you're trying your best, and you've
been a pretty good fellow. You're not perfect, but you're
better than most. That's what Satan said. Now,
whose word is true? God's word or Satan's word? Satan's a murderer. He'll murder
your soul. How? He abode not in the truth,
the gospel, the way of God. And he says in verse 44, when
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. That is, when Satan
lies, he's only speaking what comes to him naturally. When
men speak of other ways of salvation other than by God's free and
sovereign grace in Christ, they're only telling you what comes naturally
to man. That's, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. That's why we must be born again
to do righteousness. You see, he's only just saying
what's natural. But you see, the gospel is not
natural. The gospel is divine. It's the
gospel of God. It's a revelation from heaven.
That's why Christ said, I speak not of myself. I came down from
heaven. And he says, for he's a liar
and the father of it. Now go back to 1 John 3. Let me show you one other passage
before we go back there. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Let
me show you how Christ destroys the works of the devil. in the
new birth. Now, remember what I said. He
destroyed the works of the devil on the cross when he removed
the ground of condemnation, put away the sins of his people,
and brought in righteousness, whereby God was just to justify
them. Who shall lay anything to the
charge? All right. Now, he destroys the works of the devil in the
new birth when he brings a sinner to see the glory of Christ and
Him crucified, to see salvation. Look at Hebrews chapter 2, look
at verse 14. He says, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood. Now he's talking
about God's children. And he said they're flesh and
blood. So in order to save them, it says, he also himself likewise
took part of the same. Christ had to assume human nature
without sin. The Word, who is God, that's
Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was made flesh and
dwelt among us. In order to save men, He had
to be made flesh. He had to be made flesh and blood,
yet He's without sin. He had to be perfect man. He
had to be both God and man in one person to save us from our
sins. So because His children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of the same. Now look
at verse 14. that through death, that is through his death, he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now he says here the devil has
the power of death. What does that mean? Now think
about that. Does the devil have the power of death and life? And the answer is no. The devil,
listen. It is God who gives. It is God
who takes away. It is God who appointed the times. The hairs of your head are numbered.
Who numbered them? God did. God, it is appointed
a time to be born, a time to die. Who appointed that? The
devil? No, God did. God is the giver of life and
He's the taker of life. So what's he talking about here
that the devil has the power of death? Well, look at verse
15. Here it tells you, "...and deliver them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." The devil
doesn't have the power to give and take away life, but he has
this power of death over unbelievers. They're in bondage. And the fear
of death is what he's talking about. What fear of death? It's
that fear of death. Now, listen to me carefully here.
It's that fear of death that stirs up a person to seek salvation
and eternal life in a way of bondage. And what is that way? Any other way but by God's grace
in Christ. Now, that's the power the devil
has. That's what we read last week in 2 Corinthians chapter
4. If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
what? Believe not. They don't believe
in Christ. You see, we all naturally fear
death. That's true. We naturally fear it. But the
thing about it is, what's going to remove that bondage, that
fear of death that brings us into bondage? Only looking to
Christ. and him crucified. Only looking
to the one who died for our sins, was buried and rose again the
third day. That's what he told Martha. He
said, I am the resurrection and the life. He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So that when you see Christ and
the glory of his person and the power of his finished work to
put away sins and bring forth eternal life, then the power
of that death, that fear of death that brings bondage that Satan
has is broken. Now go back to 1 John 3. That's
what he's talking about here. You see, as long as you don't
see the glory of Christ, as long as you're not trusting Him, trusting
anything else, you see, you're under bondage. And it's because
of that fear of death, it's because of that hold that Satan has on
you, and he would just jump for joy to have you in a religion
somewhere, being assured of your salvation in anything but Christ. Because that's the bondage, you
see, that's where he's got you. And them that believe not. Now,
the only hope we have for that power to be broken is you must
be born again by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to come and
bring you under the preaching of the truth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, how God saves sinners, and bring you into a saving knowledge
of Christ. And that's our victory over Satan.
Now, look at 1 John 3. Look at verse 10. Here's the
marks of a true believer, a true Christian. In this, the children
of God are manifested, and the children of the devil. Whosoever
doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother. What's he talking about? God's
children are known, made manifest, evidenced by abiding in truth
and loving the brother. Abiding in Christ, the devil's
children do neither. They believe a lie. They believe
a false gospel. And they don't love the brethren.
That's why he says in verse 13 there, marvel not my brethren
if the world hates you. That's why he said over here
in John chapter 8, that Brother Joe read, or John chapter 15
rather, verse 18, he said, if the world hates you, You know
that it hated me before it hated you. Now, who's the world there?
That's the unbelieving world. That's the unregenerate world.
That's the world over whom Satan has that fear of death, that
bondage, that power that keeps them from coming to Christ. They hate the children of God.
And why? Well, we're going to see that
in just a moment. But this truth and love, abiding in truth and
love, they go together. You know one of the key tests
of true Christianity, proofs of the new birth, genuineness
of our faith, is love to one another, brotherly love. The
Bible teaches us Galatians chapter 5 and verse 6, for in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. In the book of John chapter 13,
turn over there with me, it speaks of the love of Christ for his
people. It says in John 13 and verse 1, here they were to keep the feast
of the Passover. This is the beginning of what
they call the upper room discourses where Christ spoke to his disciples
personally and privately. His public ministry is over now.
He's preparing to go to the cross. And it says in John 13 now before
the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was
come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end." In other words, he loved them so much that he loved
them unto the finishing of the work that the Father gave him
to do to save them. That is what that word end means.
In other words, there is no time that he stopped loving his brethren. There's no time that he was even
hindered in that. Even when his own brethren tried
to stop him, he looked at Peter and said, Get thee behind me,
Satan. Didn't he? He loved his own. Now look at
the end of that chapter, or right around verse 34. Now he's teaching
his disciples here. In John 13, look at verse 34.
He says, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another,
as I have loved you, that you also love one another, By this
shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one
to another." Somebody asked, well, why is that a new commandment?
Well, because it's a special commandment. It's a specific
commandment. It has to do with loving those
whom the world hates. The Bible has always said, the
law of God has always said, love your neighbor as yourself. That's
not new. That was from the beginning.
But here's a special love that they didn't have before God brought
them into the kingdom. And it's a new commandment to
them. It's a new commandment to you. When you came into a
saving knowledge of Christ and the glory of Christ and His church
and the fellowship of His people, it was brand spanking new. Something
you've never seen before. Something you didn't have before.
That's the issue. Look over at 1 John chapter 4. He mentions it here in verse
10. 1 John 4 and verse 10. He says, Herein is love, not
that we love God. You see, we didn't love God by
nature. And His love for us is not based upon our love for Him.
His love for us is not a response of our loving Him. He says, Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, the sin bearer. the offering for sin, who satisfied
law and justice in his bloody death. So he says in verse 11,
Beloved, if God so loved us in that way, we ought to love also
to love one another. Look back at 1 John 3. That's the mark of a true Christian,
abiding in truth and in love. And when we speak of this love,
look here in verse 11 of 1 John 3. Here's the endeavor. of this
love. He says, for this is the message
that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Now this love, we've spoken of it before, but you cannot teach
on it and preach on it too much. This love is the work of Christ
in us by His Spirit. It's the love of Christ in our
brethren. And let me tell you something now, this love is not
only the Christian's goal. I may mention this Wednesday
night. It's not just something you are striving to attain. It is something that is given
to you. It's a gift of God's grace set
within your heart and your mind in the new birth. It is life
and it is reality. In other words, if we are saved,
if we're born again by the Spirit, we do love the brethren. Now
that's so. Look over at verse 14 of 1 John
3. Now here's what he said. Remember what he said in verse
13, they marvel not my brethren, if the world hates you, the unbelieving,
unregenerate world who stand in opposition to Christ. Remember
what Christ said, if they hated me before you, they're going
to hate you who follow me. Servants not greater than the
master. But look at verse 14. We know that we have passed from
death unto life. We know we've been born again
by the Spirit. We have spiritual eternal life.
Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. So it's not just a goal. It's
a reality. Now listen to me now. Now, perfect
love is our goal. Because he first loved us and
he's given us the desire to be like Christ. You see, we don't
have the perfection of love within our hearts yet. We have rivals. Don't we? I have rivals within
me to loving you. And I can honestly say I do love
you. But there's some rivals. And I'll tell you the biggest
one. Self. S-E-L-F. And I'll tell you what,
you've got to hold now. You see, when I desire to love
you perfectly, I have something that hinders me. And that's love
of self. You see, when it comes to your
way or my way, I want my way. How about you? You always give
in readily. Is your first reaction? Well,
let's put it to you this way. When somebody who would be your
worst enemy would do you the most harm, is your first reaction
to that person always to love him without any other thoughts?
You ever get angry? You ever get vindictive? You
ever want vengeance? The Lord get him? Now, our Lord
never did have those thoughts of vengeance. Huh? He was hanging
on that cross and He said, Father, forgive them, they know not what
they do. You know what that is? That's the words of a perfect
love, not a contaminated love. But what's our first? We have
to fight and war after the Spirit against the flesh, don't we?
Why is it such a warfare? You know, that's a good word
for it. It's not just a little tussle. He said it's a warfare
of the flesh against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
Paul said it this way in Romans chapter 7. He said, I desire
to love you. I desire to do good, but I don't
know how to do it. What's he talking about? He said,
I don't know how to be perfect. He said, I've got to come to
this conclusion, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God, my God, through
Jesus Christ my Lord. But there's still no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Perfect love is our goal. If
you want to see the perfection of love, now let me tell you
something right here. If you want to see the perfection of
love, do not look within yourself. For two reasons. If you're honest,
you won't find it. If you're self-righteous, you
may. And that would be worse. Isn't
that right? If you look within yourself and
find the perfection of love, if you find it, you're in more
trouble than anything. If you want to see the perfection
of love, look at Christ. on the cross, and at the right
hand of the Father make an intercession. There is the perfection of love.
That is what John is saying over here in 1 John 4. You want to see the perfection
of love, look at Him who loved His own unto the end. Who set
His face like a flint to glorify the Father. Listen, in everything
that He did, as God-man, When he was born, when he grew in
wisdom and stature, and I can't explain that, I'm not even going
to try, I just know it's so. When he set out upon his public
ministry and he preached the Word, he was baptized, he preached
the Word, and he went about doing good, he went about performing
miracles, he made a lot of people mad. And they accused him. One group said that he was a
wine-biver. Another group said he was a gluttonous
man. Another group said that he went
to the wrong places and hung around with the wrong kind of
people. He went into a pub and satinate with publicans and sinners.
And you know no preacher would do that. I mean, that's just
unheard of. He wore sandals and got up and
preached without a coat and tie. And he made a lot of people mad
and angry. And then, when he was arrested,
they had to hire false witnesses to bring charges against him.
And he didn't open his mouth. Boy, we'd have been fighting
and fussing and cussing and crying. He didn't even open his mouth. And when he went to the Cross
of Calvary, He went there displaying in every fiber of his being as
God and as man perfect love. He never had a thought of vengeance,
hatefulness towards his enemies. That's so. So you want to see
perfect love? Don't look within yourself. Don't
look at me. Don't look at any other person. Look at Christ.
There's perfect love. The establishment of love within
our hearts is by the Spirit and is given when He brings us to
faith in Christ. That's what the Bible says in
Romans chapter 5, when the Holy Spirit sheds abroad within us
the love of God within our hearts. And that's what draws out our
love to God and our love to our brethren in Christ. Love is the
gift of God. It's not something you work up.
It's the fruit of the Spirit, the Scripture says. It's one
of the fruit of the Spirit that's listed in Galatians 5. It's a matter of will. You will
to love your brethren. But you know what? God changes
your will, you see. He makes you willing. You don't
have that will by nature. It's not free will. Free will
would pop them. Free will would get them. It's the will of God. that brings
you into subjection, brings me into subjection. It's not that
we possess or exhibit perfect love. Sin still remains. But
here's what it is. Under God's Word, knowing Christ
and knowing His unconditional love for me, by God's grace I
am committed to love you. And I have to be committed to
love you. And you have to be committed to love me. We have
to be committed to love each other. What is it? That's a commitment
to fight the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Our efforts to obey Christ, to
follow Him, to love Him, and to love each other do not save
us. If they did, we'd be lost. They don't even make us holy.
You see, we're made holy in Christ by God's grace, not by our efforts
to love. They give us nothing in which
to boast or glory in. Whenever you see a person boasting
or glorying in their love, beware. We'll boast and glory in God's
love for us. How about that? That's a good
thing. But our efforts to follow Him,
to obey Him, and to love Him do express our love for Him and
for each other in Christ, for He says in that you've done this
to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. I've
said it before, if you want to measure your love for Christ,
measure it by your love for your brethren and pick the one that
you like the least. How about that? Don't pick the
social circle or the Kentucky basketball fans only. Pick you
a Florida fan who knows Christ. How do you love Him? You see
what I'm saying. You see, that does evidence the
grace of God within us and the genuineness of our faith. It's the gift of God. It's the
fruit of the Spirit. And it's something that we want
to do. We want to do it because we know
it's right. We may not feel like doing it.
You don't have to feel it. We're not always lovable, you
see. But you want to do it because it honors God in Christ. And
it's the right thing to do. And we know that the love God
has shown towards us is totally undeserved and totally unearned.
What Christ did for me, I didn't earn it, didn't deserve it. I
was His enemy. He loved us when we were yet His enemies. Turn
over to 1 John 5. Let me show you something here. He says in verse 6, he's talking about the love of
God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us in verse 5. And then in verse 6 he says,
for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for who? The ungodly. That's an unbeliever. And he says, for scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die. Now what he's saying in that
verse is there are some people for whom others would die for,
who deserve it? Scarcely for a righteous man
or a good man. That's no big thing that a person
would die for a righteous man, a just man, or a good man. We
know there's none good and none righteous amongst mankind, but
he's using this to teach a lesson. He's using that example. If you
could find a righteous person or a good person, it wouldn't
be any big thing for somebody to die for that person because
they deserve it. But look at verse 8. But God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Christ died for the ungodly.
God loves the unlovable. This is the issue. Look back
at 1 John 3. One more verse and I'll close.
I'm going to pick up here next week, but I want you to see this
in conclusion here. Look at verse 12. Now, here's
the example of a true Christian. A man named Abel, given as the
prime example. You know the story of Cain and
Abel? Read verse 11 with it. He says, for this is the message
that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain, who was of that wicked one. Now, Cain is an example
here of one who is of his father, the devil, that wicked one. He's
an example of one who committed sin in the realm that John's
talking about. He's an example of one who doeth
not righteousness. Children of the devil. Not as
Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. He
murdered his brother. Now, there have been a lot of
stories, a lot of Sunday school lessons taught about Cain and
Abel. But listen to this right here. He says, and wherefore
slew he him? Now, what that is saying, that's
just an old English way of saying, why did Cain slay Abel? Why did he do it? And I can remember
being taught from my youth up, well, Cain was insincere. Or
Cain had a bad attitude. Or Cain did this. Or Cain did
that. Well, here's what the Scripture says. Here's what God's Word
says. The reason that Cain hated and
slew his brother Abel. Incidentally, Abel is an example
of one who is born of God. He's an example of one who doeth
righteousness. He's an example of one who is
of his father, God. He abides in truth and love.
And he says, why did Cain slay Abel? It says, because his own
works were evil and his brothers righteous. Now, if you go back
to Genesis 4 and read the story of Cain and Abel, What are the
works of Cain? He says, the works of Cain were
evil and the works of Abel were righteous. That's what it says
here. Well, according to Genesis 4, what were the works of Cain
and what were the works of Abel? Well, what do we know about Cain?
He was a tiller of the ground. Now, let me ask you something.
Would you all say that being a farmer is evil? No. I hope you wouldn't say that.
I've got some farmers in here. Or I get a lot of good produce
in spring and summer from you. So I partake of your evil, if
that's what it is. No, that's not what it is. It's
not a sin. It's not evil to till the ground. But what did Cain do? Now, here
Abel, he was a shepherd. Is it righteous to be a shepherd?
No. No. A person can be a shepherd
and still be as wicked as they come. So that's not the works
he's talking about, just the fact that Cain was a farmer and
Abel was a shepherd. What did they do? They both sought
to worship God. Cain sought it in one way, Abel
sought it in another. Cain brought the fruit of his
labors. He tilled the ground, and he
was a farmer, and he's pretty proud of what he'd gotten in
the harvest, and he brought the best out of the field to God,
and sought to be accepted of God based upon the works of his
hands. That's evil. That's evil. Any sinner who comes before God
seeking salvation, seeking to be made righteous, seeking salvation
based on the works of his own hands, That's evil. That's pride. That's self-righteousness. That's
unbelief. That's committing sin. What did Abel bring? He brought
what God commanded him to bring, the blood of the lamb. He came
to God with the shed blood of a perfect lamb. Now, it wasn't
that animal in and of itself. that brought Abel's acceptance
before God is who that animal typified and pictured and foreshadowed. Behold, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ. When Abel
came to God with that blood, here's what Abel was saying.
He said, Lord, I'm a sinner. I have no hope of salvation.
Based upon my best works, I can only plead the blood of the one
you promised, typified by this Lamb. Cain's works were evil. Abel's
works were righteous. Not because of Abel, he's a sinner,
but because of the blood. Abel's a picture of one who comes
before God as a beggar seeking mercy. As a sinner seeking God's
salvation by grace. That's the mark of a true Christian,
you see. That's one who doeth righteousness. That's one who's
been born of God. And when Cain saw that Abel was
accepted and he wasn't, he turned his hatred towards Abel, hence
living. Marvel not if the world hates
you, he said. All right. Okay, let's sing hymn
number 483 as our closing hymn, Oh, How I Love Jesus.