Now open your Bibles with me
to the book of 1 John, 1 John chapter 3. The past few weeks I've been speaking
a lot concerning issues of the family of God, the fatherhood
of God. Is God really my father? I preached
a message on that. Heavenly Father. God is not the
spiritual father of all people without exception. He's the spiritual
father of His redeemed ones, His chosen ones, His people in
Christ, adopted into His family by the grace of God. Not because
we're worthy or not because we deserve it, not because we've
earned it, but solely because of His grace. Unearned, undeserved. And therefore there is a family.
It's the church family. It's not just talking about local
assemblies, but it's talking about every sinner saved by the
grace of God in Christ. Who stand before God pleading
the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Pleading his righteousness. The
merits of his obedience unto death, imputed, charged, accounted,
reckoned to me. And those who have been born
again into the kingdom." John spoke of this in 1 John chapter
2 and verse 29. He said, if you know that he
is righteous, if you know that Christ is righteous, you know
that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Over in this
passage in 1 John 3, look at verse 10. He says, In this the children
of God are manifest. How do you know the children
of God? What is the evidence? In this the children of God are
manifest. That means made known. And the
children of the devil. Then he says, whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God. He speaks of doing righteousness.
Now what does that mean? Am I a doer of righteousness?
Well, it does not mean that sinners are righteous by our doing the
works of the law. Should we try to be moral people? Should we give it our best in
every way? Fathers, should you be the best
fathers you can be? Of course you should. Mothers,
should you be the best mothers? Husbands? Wives? Children? Obedient? Sure. Should you be
the hardest workers? Should you try to be the most
loving? Should we try to be the most loving people? Kind people?
Yes. But here's the point of the gospel.
None of those efforts, no matter how much progress we make or
improvement we make, none of those efforts will make us righteous
before God. A person who's doing their best
to be the best in order to make themselves worthy and righteous
before God is not doing righteousness. Do you understand that? That's
sinning with a high hand because it's pride. It's self-righteousness,
you see. Now somebody says, well I don't
believe that. Well then don't ever tell anybody anytime that
you believe salvation is not by works. That you believe it's by grace.
Because grace is something you cannot earn and you cannot deserve.
You cannot work your way into the grace of God. If you can
work your way into God's favor, you don't need grace. If you
can work your way into being justified before God, you don't
need Christ. In fact, you pretty much stand
above everybody that I know, including me. But you know that's
not the case. What we were talking about earlier,
there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth
good, no not one. For by grace are you saved through
faith, but that's not of yourselves. Listen, if you truly have faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that didn't come because you had a
spark of goodness above the rest of stubborn humanity which some
preacher fanned and brought into a flame that caused you to walk
down an aisle and give your heart to Jesus. That's not the way
it's done. That's not scriptural. Read the Bible. What is it to do righteousness?
Well, the best that sinners can do is imperfect. What is righteousness? It's perfect satisfaction to
the law and the justice of God. Somebody asked me one time, how
good do you have to be? Well, I can only tell you this. God sent his son into the world
to do for me what I cannot do for myself. If I could attain to the goodness,
if I could attain to the righteousness that I need to be accepted with
God, God would not have had to send his son into the world.
How good do you have to be? How righteous? As good and as
righteous as Christ. You say, well, that's impossible.
Exactly. That's why you better beg for
mercy. That's why we better fall at the feet of God and say, Lord,
God be merciful to me, like a publican. God be merciful to me. The Pharisee,
he esteemed himself better than the publican, didn't he? And
he gave the credit to God. Did you notice that in Luke 18? He said, God, I thank you that
I'm not like that publican. But you see, and then he listed
all the things he did not do and he didn't and he did do.
But that wouldn't make you righteous. Sinners are only made righteous
by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ by God's grace imputed,
charged, accounted, laid to my account with no works and no
help from me. That's what salvation is all
about. So he who does righteousness is one who is convinced of the
insufficiency and even the wickedness of his own works to make him
righteousness. And he knows that Christ's righteousness
imputed alone is his hope. He renounces his own and he submits
to Christ. I have one plea. Christ died
for me. That's it. We have examples of
People standing before God at judgment, giving what they claim
is glory to God. When they say, Lord, Lord, haven't
we preached in your name? They didn't preach in their own
name like so many do today. They say, we preached in your
name. We cast out devils. We did many
wonderful works in your name." And what was his reply? He said,
depart from me. I never knew you. You that worketh
iniquity. Now why was that called iniquity?
You know what iniquity is, don't you? It means inequity. It doesn't
balance out. It doesn't measure up. Preaching
in his name. Listen, I'm preaching in his
name this morning. That will not make me righteous.
I've never cast out a devil, but even if I did, it would not
make me righteous. And I don't know about the wonderful
works, what they had in mind. I don't see any of my works as
being that wonderful. But if I did, that would not
make me righteous before God. One thing makes me righteous
before God, the cross of Christ. the death of the Lord Jesus.
I'm washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness, so I sing.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My hope is built on nothing less than what? Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's it. What is one who doeth righteousness
here? Look back up at 1 John 3, 9.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now I talked
about this last week. What he's talking about there
is he will not forsake Christ. He will cling to Christ. That's
what that's talking about. Listen, there's only two types
of people on this earth. Sinners lost in their sins and
sinners saved by grace. Talked about this in our Bible
study earlier. What is a saint? A saint is a sinner saved by
the grace of God. Washed in the blood of Christ.
And so when he says, whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin, he's not talking about when we're born again, we're no longer
sinners. We're still sinners saved by grace. But we will not
commit the sin of apostasy. That's what the context teaches
here. We will not fall away from Christ. And the reason we won't
is because God preserves us. He preserves his people. He keeps
us. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he is able, not me, I'm not able,
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. And what have I committed unto him? My whole salvation
is committed to Christ. It's not committed to you. It's
not committed to me. It's not committed to some denomination
or some church. It's committed to Christ. It's
in his hands. Remember in John 10, he said,
no one will pluck them out of my hand. So he lays hold of Christ, for
his seed, his children remain in him. The children of God remain
in Christ. Christ is my only hope. And he'll
always be my only hope. Christ is my surety. Christ is
my sacrifice. Christ is my Sabbath. Sunday
is not my Sabbath, folks. That confuses some people, doesn't
it? Christ is my Sabbath. Under the Old Covenant, Saturday
was their Sabbath, but that was a type, that was a picture of the coming Christ who would
do what? Finish the work of putting away the sins of His people and
working righteousness for His people. And you know what He
said in John 19, 30? He said, it's finished. You see, He didn't start something
that we need to finish. That's not the way salvation
works, that's the way most people think of it. Christ has done
all he can do, now the rest is up to you. Oh no. I challenge you to read from
Genesis to Revelation and show me where that's in the Bible.
It's not there. If Christ did all he can do,
then he did it all. Because that's what he can do. If he left any of it up to me,
it's a failure. And I'm talking about at my best,
not just when you catch me in a wrong, bad moment. If he left
it up to me, it fails. If he left it up to you, it fails. It's all him. That's why he's
called the author and the what? Finisher of our faith. The whole forgiveness of all
my sins is in Christ, the blood of Christ. My right standing before God
at my best moments and my worst is Christ, His righteousness
alone. And the reason that I see these
things and hear these things and believe these things and
love these things is because spiritual life came from Him
out of His death, burial, and resurrection by the power of
the Spirit who made me willing in the day of his power, because
by nature I was unwilling." I know, I've been there. It's all Him. All grace. One who does righteousness is
one who lays hold of Christ and it says, his seed remaineth in
him, verse 9, his seed, his children, that's his seed, his children,
His offspring remain in Him. We remain in Christ by the power
and grace of God. And it says, and he cannot sin,
he cannot leave Christ, he cannot forsake Christ. Why? Because
he's born again. The Holy Spirit has convicted
him, given him life from the dead. The Holy Spirit's given
him a new heart, a new life, a new mind. And that new heart
and new life and new mind evidences itself by the simple fact that
we believe in Christ and we stay with him by the grace and power
of God. So he says in verse 10, in this the children of God are
manifest and the children of the devil. The children of the
devil do not believe in Christ. They will not stay with Christ.
In fact, John mentioned them over in 1 John 2, those who claimed
to be Christian but who left it, who apostatized, they fell
away. They never were saved, he says. And then he says, whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God. Those who do righteousness, they
believe in Him, they receive Him as their justifying righteousness,
they live by faith in Christ, they desire to be found in Him,
not having their own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. Faith does not make them
righteous, but it shows them to be so in Christ. You see,
my believing is the power of God, it's not the power of man.
But my believing doesn't make me righteous, it just simply
shows that I am in Him, by virtue of His merits, His obedience
unto death. He doeth righteousness as opposed,
now look here, as opposed to one who commiteth sin. One who,
and not simply by being a sinner, but one who does not believe
in, cling to, and abide in and follow Christ. That's what he's
saying. Look at verse 10 again. In this
the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that
loveth not his brother. Now, this is where I want to
get to. In this message and several other
messages, I want to talk about the love of brethren. The love of brethren. What a
subject. What a misunderstood subject.
You know, two of the most misunderstood concepts in professing Christianity
today is love, and you know what the other one is? Some of you
might be amazed when I say it. Hate. That's two of the most
misunderstood, confused concepts of the Bible. Love and hate.
He says here, those who are the children of God, they do righteousness. They cling to Christ as the Lord
their righteousness. That's what it means. They have
no other righteousness but Him. And he says, they love the brethren. Because if you're not of God,
you loveth not the brethren. Look at verse 11. He says, for
this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that
we should love one another. Does the Bible command me to
love everybody? Yes. Love my neighbor. Christ said the whole law was
fulfilled in these two commandments. Love God supremely with all your
heart, soul, mind, strength. That means perfectly. And love
your neighbor as yourself. And Christ was very careful to
make us understand that our neighbor includes our worst enemies. You can't get away from. So what's
he talking about? He's talking about the perfection
of love there. In other words, we're to love everyone. And I'll
tell you what now, when you really look at that, now, if you're
really honest, here's one thing we know about our love. We just
don't have much to brag about. I certainly wouldn't put it on
a billboard. Talk about how much I love everybody. You know, one of the things that
shows us how badly we as human beings are totally up on God's
mercy and in need of His grace is that issue of love. Now somebody says, well, you're
right, I really can't understand that love, but I can sure understand
that hate part. That comes natural, doesn't it?
Especially when Christ, when He defined, you know, murder.
How did He define murder? Matthew 5, you remember it? You
heard it said by them of old, it's a sin to commit murder,
but He said, I say unto you to be angry. It's murder in the heart. Remember
how He defined adultery? You heard it said by them of
old, it's a sin to commit adultery, and it is. But it's a sin to think it. What does that tell us? Well,
we ought to try to do better. Yeah, we ought to try to do better
in every area. We ought to obey the law. But
I'll tell you the main thing it tells us. I'm a sinner. And if God ever looked at this
old sinner and said, I'm going to give you what you've earned
and what you've deserved, it would be damnation. That's what
it said. You say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, don't ever quote Romans 3.23 again then. Remember what
it says? For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. If you don't believe what I just
said, you can't say you've sinned and come short of the glory of
God. You've measured up. That's what that word sin means
there. It means you fall short. You miss the mark. And what I'm
saying is that my best efforts to love my neighbor as myself
I still fall short. I need God's grace. You say,
well, you're just making that an excuse. Go ahead. You can
say that if you want. It's not the case. It's no excuse. It's just a fact. Remember old
John Wayne? That's a fact. That's just a
fact. That's what I am. The wages of
sin is death. What does that mean? It means
the only thing we can earn is death. But the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation's a gift. Somebody said, oh, but you've
got to take it. If God gives it, you'll take it. If you ever
see yourself, if I ever see myself, you don't have to worry about
that part. And you don't need some eloquent preacher trying
to drag you down an aisle to do it. This is the message that you
heard from the beginning. He said this thing. Now, when
he says this in verse 11, that we should love one another, is
he talking about the commandment of God for men and women to love
their neighbors themselves? And the answer is no. What he's
talking about here is the love that exist by the grace of God
in the hearts of his children as brethren in Christ for one
another." That's what he's talking about here. Now, in other places
in the Bible, he talks about love for neighbor. You know,
I made this when I was talking about the brotherhood of Christ.
I made this statement. The Bible does not teach the
universal brotherhood of man. Look at verse 10 again. In this,
the children of God are manifest. That's one family. And the children
of the devil. That's another family. There's
no brotherhood, fellowship, between the children of God and the children
of the devil. Turn just over one page to 1
John 5. And look at verse 19. He says, and we know that we
are of God. Now who's the we there? That's
sinners saved by grace. That's the children of God, the
family of God, those who are washed in the blood of Christ,
clothed in His righteousness, and who've been born again by
the Spirit, who believe in Christ, submit to Christ. They know their
sinfulness. They know their need of Him.
They cling to Him. And the whole world lieth in
wickedness or literally in the wicked one. The world there is
the unbelieving fallen world in opposition to Christ and his
truth, the gospel of how God justifies the ungodly through
the blood and righteousness of Christ by his grace. There's
a division there. Now though it is true that we
are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, We who are saved by the grace
of God are not commanded, in fact we are forbidden, to receive
those who are in the family of Satan into the family of Christ. In other words, we're not to
recognize them as being our brother or sister in Christ. We pray
for them. We pray that God will bring them
into the family. We pray that God will save their
souls. Don't you pray for them? How
many of you have lost family members? You pray for them, don't
you? You love them, don't you? I have
lost family members, and I pray for them. I want God to bring
them to see Christ. They're part of my physical family,
and I have friends that I love who are lost. Don't you have
that? They're members of the human family, fallen, cursed,
but I want God, by His grace, to bring them into my spiritual
family. You see the difference that we're
talking about here? Now, how do I know that that
distinction is made? Okay, look at verse 12. Let's
go by the rule of context. Context, context, context. Here
you go. Verse 12. Not as, now whose name
is that? Cain. Who was of that wicked one? Cain,
alright, remember we saw over in 1 John 5, the whole world
lieth in wickedness, that's literally the wicked one. Cain was of that
wicked one. Cain was in the family of the
devil. And slew his brother, he killed
his brother. Remember his brother's name,
Abel, right? And wherefore slew he him? What
does that mean? He's posing the question, why
did Cain kill Abel? Well, he gives the answer. Because
his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Now these two boys, Cain and
Abel, Cain was the first human being born on this earth, wasn't
he? The eldest of Adam and Eve. Remember
Adam was created fully grown, Eve too, out of Adam. And the
first child born, and he was born in sin, dead in trespasses
and sin, named Cain. And then another one was born
named Abel. Born of Adam and Eve, born dead
in trespasses and sins, just like Cain, a sinner. And these
boys were connected physically. They were physical brothers.
But they were not spiritual brothers. They were in the same family
with Adam and Eve, humanly speaking. But they weren't in the same
family spiritually speaking. One was of the wicked one. He
was in the family of Satan. The other one was of God. And instead of loving his brother,
Cain, what did he do? He killed him. And why did he
do it? We've talked about this earlier.
He just had a bad attitude. Well, he had a bad attitude,
alright. That wasn't the, what was the
source of the bad, you know, somebody had, you say, got a
bad attitude. Well, why do they have a bad attitude? You know,
I used to teach school. I used to teach middle school.
That's why I've got so much gray hair. And I had some children who come
in, I'd say, they have a bad attitude. But when I got to researching
a lot of that, I found out that Maybe one or two of those kids,
they got up the next morning and the daddy was laying in drunk
somewhere and the mama was gone and they were poor, they didn't
have any breakfast. You know what I thought? If that
was me, I'd have a bad attitude too. Wouldn't you? Kids had to lead terrible lives. Well, what was the source of
Cain's bad attitude? That he did not love his brother
Abel. His own works were evil. What
did he do? Well, let's not go to Genesis
4 because I'm running out of time. You can read this in Genesis
4. You know what he did? He worked hard in his garden. And he took the first fruits
of that garden, the best works of his hands as he saw it, and
he brought it and offered it to God. What was he trying to
do? He was trying to find salvation.
He was trying to find acceptance. He was trying to find blessings.
He was trying to find justification before God. By what? His works. The fruits of the cursed ground. His works were evil. Somebody
said, well, he wasn't sincere. Well, how do you know that? It
doesn't say that in the Bible. You know why you would say his
works weren't sincere? Because you think your works
are. Now be honest. I hope, listen
to me now, I hope I'm the sincerest person on the top side of God's
green earth. I'm probably not. But I hope
I am. But you want to know something?
That's not going to get me into God's favor. It's not going to
get me into the kingdom. It's not going to make me righteous.
It's not going to wash away my sins. What was Cain's problem? Self-righteousness. He rejected the Gospel of God's
grace in the Lamb by the shedding of the blood of the Lamb. What
did Abel do? He brought the blood of the Lamb as God instructed
in the Gospel. Cain didn't see himself as a
sinner. He thought he himself was good
enough. And what he would do and what
would come from him was good enough. But it wasn't, and God
told him through his parents. But Abel knew that he was a sinner
who had nothing to recommend himself unto God. He had no recourse
but to bring the blood of God's chosen, able lamb, which was
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, the
Lamb of God. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
Why was Cain's works evil? Because they were self-righteous.
They didn't glorify God. They were not obedient to God.
God forbid any sinner from approaching Him on the basis of anything
but the blood and the righteousness imputed of Jesus Christ. Somebody said, well, doesn't
God command us to obey Him? Yes, but He commands us not to
seek salvation based on our obedience. You see the difference? And anybody
who does is evil, and their works are evil, and they're of the
devil. But come like Abel, a sinner,
begging for mercy. That's what Abel did here. He
was a sinner begging for mercy. And what's the foundation of
mercy? Is it your decision? No. Is it
walking in an aisle? No. Is it baptism? No. Is it
tears of repentance? No. Is it a reformed life? No.
The basis of mercy is the blood of the Lamb of God. And there's
no other, nothing to add to that. It's His righteousness alone.
Do you see that? That's how Abel's works were
righteous. You know how, what was Abel's
works? The blood of the Lamb. My only righteousness is Christ. When I come to God for salvation,
what do I plead? His righteousness, His blood. When I pray, what's my worthiness
to pray, to come to the throne? And what kind of throne is it?
It's a throne of grace. It's because I have a great high
priest who is the Lamb of God Himself. My worthiness to pray
is the blood of Christ. My worthiness to do anything
before God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
everybody in here who believes that same gospel, you're my brother
or sister in Christ. We're the same family. And though
we're commanded to love all people as we love ourselves, That doesn't
mean we're to recognize them as being our brotherhood in Christ. We're to love the brethren in
a special way, and that's what I'm going to deal with in these
coming messages. What that love of the brethren,
what this hatred that he talks about, what it entails, alright?