Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John, the
book of 1 John in the New Testament, chapter three. And I've been
going through this book in the last set of programs. And today I wanna talk to you
about love in the family of God. That's the title, love in the
family of God. We've been talking about here
in 1 John three, how the Lord draws a clear line of distinction
between what John calls the children of God, you can look at verse
10 here, in this, the children of God are manifest, that is
made known, and the children of the devil, children of God
and children of the devil. And basically what he has said
up to this point, is that true children of God are those who
have been brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, brought
by God, not by themselves, but by God, to faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. They rest in Him for all salvation,
for all the forgiveness of sins. John has spoken of that. The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. That forgiveness
comes at the expense of the blood of Christ, the blood meaning
his death, that he paid the debt, the sin debt on Calvary's cross
when he gave himself and gave himself as the ransom, the substitute
to redeem his people from their sins. And he redeemed them and
what the Bible says, cleansed them from all sin, purged their
sins away. And so a child of God, if you
wanna know whether or not you're a child of God, you rest in Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And then a child of God is one
who is in Christ, and who rest in Christ and who will never
fall away from that state. He will never fall away from
the faith. He will never leave Christ completely
and turn against him. And the reason is, is because
he's kept preserved by the power of God, the power of God's grace. Christ dealt with this in John
chapter 10, when he said, his sheep hear his voice and they
follow him. And he said, they shall never
perish. He said, no one can pluck them
out of my father's hand. And this is what he dealt with
in verse nine here, when he said, whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. Now, what he's talking about
is the sin of apostasy. The sin of apostasy. What is
apostasy? That's a person who at one time
gave a profession, had a profession of faith in Christ, believing
the true gospel now, not a false gospel. Claimed to believe the
true gospel and then totally left it, totally turned against
it. later on. And John said over
in 1 John chapter two and verse 18 and 19, he said, such people
were never saved. They never knew the Lord Jesus
Christ in a saving way. They were never saved to begin
with. It wasn't that they were saved
and that they lost their salvation, but they were never saved at
all. Because if you're truly saved by the grace of God, based
on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to you,
charged to you. And the Holy Spirit has brought
you in the new birth to have life from the dead, spiritual
life, and brought you to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. If you truly believe that, if
you're truly saved, I always go to these three things. You
cannot ignore it, you cannot deny it, and you cannot leave
it. Now you can stray, God's children
can stray. But I mentioned this last week,
I believe, how an old preacher used to say, we can stray, but
God won't let us go, we're on his leash, we're on God's leash.
And that's a good place to be. So that's the children of God.
And the children of the devil have to do with those who go
through life in unbelief and die in unbelief. and they're
inspired by the devil. Well, in verse 10 here, he says,
listen, in this the children of God are manifest and the children
of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.
What is it to do righteousness? It's to believe in, follow, rest
in Christ, walk in his grace. That's doing righteousness. It's
not that our works are righteous, but we're under Christ. We're
in him who is righteous. And then he says, neither he
that loveth not his brother. Now this is the love that is
in the family of God. Love the brother, love his brother,
love the brethren. And look at verse 11. He says,
for this is the message. And that word message is the
word commandment. This is the commandment that
you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Now, what he's talking about
here is something specific and something special, and it is
something that is not natural to fallen sinful people. In fact,
this love is founded, this love of the brethren, is founded in
the love of God to his people. And you probably heard the Greek
word for this love, agape. That's what it is. But you know,
in the Greek language, there's many words for love. There are
many kinds of love. There's the love, for example,
that exists between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife.
That love, that sensual love that a man and a wife, a husband
and a wife have. There's love of the brotherhood. Not the brotherhood of faith,
but love of humankind. You know, the law of God is summed
up in love God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself.
And your neighbor, Christ taught, is all people, even your worst
enemies. He taught that in the Sermon
on the Mount. He clarified that. So there's love of humanity.
There's that charitable love that we're to treat others as
we would like them to treat us. And that's that kind of love.
But this love here that he's talking about, when he says,
love the brethren, You should love one another. Here is a special
love that only comes by the grace of God, in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ, which exists only within the family of God, not in the
human family of man, but only in the family of God, that binds
them together in the truth. Whereupon it's a spiritual family,
a spiritual love. And if you look over at Romans
chapter five, this is what it's talking about when it's talking
about how the Holy Spirit sheds abroad that love within the hearts
of God's people. This is a love that we do not
have before we're born again. And he says here in verse five
of Romans five, talking about hope, the hope of the gospel,
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. So you
see there, this is a love, this kind of love that he's talking
about in 1 John 3, is love that exists only among those who are
in the family of God, the children of God, those who believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a love that binds them
together together in the faith, whereby they in unison stand
against the world. Now this love causes a believer
to take sides with God against the world, against the unbelieving
world. Paul wrote about it in Galatians
6.14 when he says, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. In other words, Paul is saying
that because he boasts in the person and work of Christ for
salvation, he looks at the sin-cursed, unbelieving world as being lost
Children of the devil. But the world looks at him as
the same way. So now, understand these different
kinds of love. Even believers, we're commanded
to love our neighbor, even our worst enemies. And the best way
we can show them love, not the only way now, but the best way
that we can show them love is to tell them the truth and pray
for their salvation. That's what I would want somebody
to do for me if I was lost in my sins, if I was ignorant of
God and His Christ. If you were a believer, and I
was an unbeliever, I certainly would want you to pray for me. Tell me the truth. It may make
me angry, and I may not believe it. You see, it's only by the
power of God that any of us do. But that's a different kind of
love. A love of charity and all of those things. But this love
is that which binds believers together in their spiritual family
against the world. And it's proven here. Look at
verse 12. Now he uses Cain and Abel as an example. Now Cain and Abel were brothers.
Sons of Adam and Eve. They were bound together physically
in a physical family, but not in a spiritual family. Look at
verse 12. Let's read verse 11 and 12 together. 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, Cain
was a child of the devil, and slew his brother. Cain killed
his brother. Now it says, and wherefore slew
he him? Why did Cain slay, kill, murder
Abel? Why did he do that? And it says
here in verse 12, because his own works were evil and his brothers
righteous. Now what does that mean? We'll
go back to Cain and Abel. Now God, in the beginning, after
Adam and Eve fell into sin and depravity, He had established
that there was only one way for him to be approached and worshiped
in which he could accept sinners, in which he could save sinners,
only one way. And he established that way in
a type or a picture of animals being slain. And it says in Genesis
3.21 that God slew an animal and made coats of skin. Now you
might have passed over that verse, but you know Adam and Eve, they
sewed fig leaf aprons together to hide their nakedness. Now
that's an emblem of man trying to cover his lack of righteousness
by his own works. And God says, that's not the
way it's gonna happen. He cannot accept sinners on that
ground, the ground of their works. And so what did he do? He slew
an animal, he shed blood, the death of an animal, and made
them coats of skin. Now that slaying of an animal
and the making of the coats of skin was the truth in type and
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God, slain
for the sins of his people, upon which, having died and was buried
and rose again, he established righteousness that God has imputed,
charged, accounted to his people. That's what the coats of skin
represent. That's an emblem of the imputed
righteousness of Christ. And so God, at that point in
time, established the sacrificial system that was in the Old Testament
and the Old Covenant as a type and a picture, a symbol of how
God justifies sinners, saves sinners, by the blood of Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God. Now there was no salvation or
forgiveness of sin in the blood of animals. You can read so many
passages about that. But think about the book of Hebrews,
where it talks about the blood of bulls and goats can never
take away sin. They were only pictures, symbols,
and types. But God established that way
of worship in the days prior to the coming of Christ into
the world, and His coming into the world would fulfill all of
that and abolish that sacrificial system and the blood of animals
as types and pictures, because now Christ has come. And those
who understood this They sought to worship God through the blood
of an animal offering, blood of a lamb, blood of a goat, blood
of a bullock. Blood had to be shed because
justice had to be satisfied. Now, after God established that
system to Adam and Eve, who taught their sons, Cain and Abel, here
we have Cain coming to God to be blessed. He's coming before
God to worship. You can read about this in Genesis
4. Cain is approaching God, seeking God's favor, seeking God's blessings,
seeking to be accepted in worship. And God rejected Cain. Now why
is that? It's because Cain did not bring
the blood offering that had already been established. Cain brought
the works of his hands. He was a farmer and he had a
good crop and he took the best of his crop and he brought that
crop to God seeking salvation, seeking acceptance, seeking blessing. What was the problem with Cain's
offering? A lot of people say, well, Cain came with the wrong
attitude. Well, yes, he did. He didn't come as a sinner seeking
mercy. He didn't come in humility, knowing
that if God were to judge him for his best, he would be damned
forever. He came in pride and self-righteousness,
and the proof of that was that there was no blood in the offering.
But here comes Abel. Abel was a shepherd, and Abel
slew a lamb, and brought the blood of the lamb, and God accepted
his offering. So over here in 1 John chapter
3, he is illustrating the kind of love that exists between brethren,
all who come to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Not based
on their works. And he says, just like Cain and
Abel, Cain was of the devil. He had a physical connection
to Abel, but he had no spiritual connection to Abel, because he
didn't believe the same gospel that Abel believed. Abel believed
the gospel. Abel looked forward to the coming
of the promised Messiah, who would shed his own blood for
the payment of Abel's sins. The book of Hebrews chapter 11
speaks of Abel that he did all this by faith. That is according
to the promise of God to send Christ into the world. And so
Abel came with that. But Cain, he was of that wicked
one and his own works were evil. Now understand this. This was
before, his works were evil before he murdered Abel. Cain had no
love for God and no love for his brother Abel, spiritually
speaking. And his works were evil. And
what were his works? Well, the only work that's mentioned
in Genesis 4 is that he brought his offering of the field, the
works of his hands. And here's what is established
there. Do you understand that if any
sinner comes before God seeking salvation, seeking acceptance,
seeking blessings, favor of God, based upon their best efforts,
their best works, God looks upon those works as being evil. And
the reason is because they do not glorify God. You see, God
is glorified in the salvation of sinners by His grace based
upon the works of Christ. Not based upon your works. You
see, it's not of works, lest any man should boast. And it
does not glorify God. And secondly, it's a denial of
the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and His finished work.
Paul wrote in Galatians 2.21, if righteousness come by the
law, by your works under the law, by your obedience to the
law, then Christ died in vain. Well, Christ didn't die in vain.
He died to save his people from their sins. We're saved based
upon his righteousness, his obedience unto death, his works, not ours. And so if I come before God based
upon my works, I'm denying the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it's
also evil because it's an act of unbelief. God says, here's
the way of salvation. And that way of salvation is
in Christ, by His grace. You come bringing your own works,
you're saying, I don't believe that, I believe this. It's an
act of self-righteousness. So Cain's works were evil, but
Abel's works were righteous. And what was Abel's works? The
blood of a sacrifice. That's what he brought. That's
what he brought. And so verse 13, he says, now
in light of Cain and Abel, in light of this love of the family
of God, marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. You know,
Christ told his disciples in John chapter 15, he said, don't
be amazed if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated
you. And it was because of what he spoke. He told the highest
admired and respected religious people of his day, you're of
your father, the devil, the Pharisees. And then over in John chapter
three, it talks about Christ as the light, the light in the
gospel. that exposes the deeds of sinful human beings as being
evil. Their works were evil. And so
they hate the light. So he said, don't be amazed.
Look at verse 14. We know that we have passed from
death unto life. Now that's the new birth. You
must be born again. We're all born into this world,
fallen in Adam, spiritually dead and depraved. And when the Holy
Spirit comes and brings us under the preaching of the gospel,
what does he do? He imparts spiritual life and
knowledge and all the gifts and graces of the Spirit, faith and
repentance. So we know we have been born
again. We know we have passed from death unto life because
we love the brethren. Now, we take sides with Abel
against Cain. That's the love that's in the
family of God. We take sides and we unite with
and worship with and have fellowship with the children of God who
believe the same gospel we do. That's the love of God that's
been shed abroad in our hearts and we take sides with them against
the world. And he says in verse 14, he that
loveth not his brother abideth in death. Just like Cain. Cain
did not love his brother. He had no spiritual connection
to his brother Abel. And the people of God, this love
in the family of God, which brings us by God's grace to love God
and to love our brethren, all right? And we don't love perfectly
now, but we do love God and we love our brethren because we
stand together in unity against the world. And that's not the
only evidence of this love. Look at verse 15. He says, whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. Now he's not saying that
everybody who hates the people of God will always take out guns
and shoot them or get knives and stab them. But he says that
if you hate, the people of God. If you hate one whom you say
is your brother, that's the same as murdering him. That's the
same as bringing, wishing him dead. And you know that no murderer
hath the eternal life abiding in him. Verse 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 the brethren. The
highest manifestation of love. And Christ did this. He laid
down his life for his brethren. He calls them his brethren. Christ
did. God's elect, for whom he became
surety, whom he justified, whom he redeemed by his own blood,
and who are regenerated and called into the family of God, he laid
down his life for them. And so he says, we ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren. We ought to give our life, that's
the highest love. That's the perfection of love.
And I'll tell you something, for us to do that, it takes the
grace of God. And he says, verse 17, but whoso
hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him? Now this goes back to something
that's very, very practical in the day that John wrote this.
And probably some, I mean, it always goes up to in some places,
but you know that people back then, because of their identification
with Christ and the people of God, their love of the brethren,
they would lose their jobs, they'd be thrown out of their homes,
they'd be arrested, they'd be put out on the street to starve.
And so he says, well, if you don't help them, your brethren
in Christ, Well, how dwelleth the love of God in you? And that's
what he's talking about, a brother in need. Now, love, the general
love of humanity, inspires us to be charitable to people in
need, but not in a way of fellowship in the faith. If you give money
to somebody standing on the street who's homeless, that doesn't
mean that you're all brethren. But when you do this to a brother
or sister in Christ, that manifests the love of God in you. That's
how this love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and manifest
itself. And that's what he says in the
next verse. He says, let's love, not just in word, not saying
it, but in deed. love of the brethren, love in
the family of God that binds us together in the Christian
faith, in the truth. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.