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By This We Know 1 John 3:11-18 11.13.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  are going to be in 1 John chapter 3. We're going to be covering verses 11 through 18. And you guys have your notes. We'll go through a recap for some of you guys who haven't been here every week. We're going to start at the beginning and work our way through all the way to last week. Each paragraph kind of represents one of these or a couple of the weeks that we have covered. Recap goes like this.
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  In this epistle to the churches is writing to combat heresy, which is sneaking into the church. Specifically, the church is in Asia Minor and was causing a disruption of certainty of those believers in those churches. We have seen.
• 0:37
  And know that we Christians are so very willing to deceive ourselves and live a fiction. We have seen that as we've gone through this epistle. The enemy wants us to live in the bondage of this fictional life rather than independence and openness with our loving Heavenly Father and with each other in close fellowship. We can live in openness because...
• 1:01
  Christ the righteous has paid all for our sins. And which means we can now live in loving response to him. As we walk redemptively towards perfection. And that perfection comes.
• 1:14
  Obviously, ultimately in heaven. And we do this by growing in our knowledge of him, which leads to a love for God and his children, our fellow brothers and sisters. And as we get to know him more intimately, we find the perfection which he offers us in his son brings forth a strength and a courage as we know he has already.
• 1:39
  One, we know he has overcome the evil one. And there's a quote there that I think summarizes one of the sections very well from Brant Hansen that says, Oh yes, the heart is deceptive and that calls for humility above all else because my heart isn't deceptive because it fools other people. It's deceptive because it fools.
• 2:05
  And we looked at the defense against this deceiving heart and spirit is simple, straightforward, but very easy for us to forget. And that is simply to abide. Abide in Christ, abide in his word. And John continues to dive deeper into the truths.
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  Which he used to build, as I've said over and over again as we've gone through this, that John was building a house that we were going to sit in. He was building a foundation, walls, and a roof. And then now we are going to start getting into the decorations, the build out, the detail of all of these things. And he continues to dive deeper into these truths which he used to build the house we now sit in.
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  Through the remainder of our study, abide, appear, ashamed, are three defining examples we considered last week of what we can experience depending on our response to the Lord. And last week, we also looked at the Trinity shown forth in 1 John 3, 1 through 10, where the Father loves.
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  Father's love is expressed in the coming and dying of Jesus for us and the gift of life which comes from the Holy Spirit, which is the power which regenerates the believer through Christ's sacrifice. That is our recap to this point.
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  of the first two chapters and the first section of chapter 3. Now we get into our introduction for this week. This week John is going to come back to his purpose statement with which he began the epistle.
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  the very first verse, and then build out that statement for us in some very graphic examples, which he sets before the churches in Asia Minor for the purpose of warning, as well as encouraging, just as he has done throughout this epistle to this point. John desires for these believers to live out their faith, to live it out because they know what they have received, and when they have been saved,
• 4:13
  John is going to remind them and us this evening that we are all debauched sinners whom apart from Christ are capable of unspeakable evil. Yet, he also...
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  is going to remind us this evening on the flip side, because of what we have been saved from and the incredible act of love it took to do so, we can now in response love others in a way which astonishes and even angers a world around us. John desires the believers in Asia Minor and us this evening to get unstuck, to leave doubt and fear behind, and a desire for the things of this fallen world
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  of this fallen world to be stripped away so that we walk in love, freedom, and knowledge of who we are because of what Christ has done. And with this as our introduction to this fantastic portion of the first epistle of John, let's read our passage, pray, and we'll get started. First John chapter three, verse 11 through 18 says this.
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  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.
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  Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us and we ought...
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  to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Let's pray. God, I pray tonight.
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  This evening that you would guide us, that you would direct us, that you would lead us into the truth that you have for us from these few verses that we will look at tonight, Lord. That you would illuminate our hearts, Lord. Remind us of the great salvation that we have received and the joy and the love that we can express because of it. Lord, guide my words and guide us into action because of what your word says.
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  In your name, amen. Our basic outline is going to be the message, verse 11. Murder, verses 12 and 15. Hate, verse 13. And then apathy, verse 17. And finally, action, verses 16 and 18. We're going to start with verse 11, the message.
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  He says in verse 11, for this is the message. For this is the message. This is the message, the same wording as used at the start of John's epistle. I said that in the introduction, that he was going to use the same wording, the same statement, basically, that he used in verse 1 as he established his authority and the reality of who Christ was.
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  He uses the same wording for this is the message, except here John leaves out the phrase, what we have seen. Instead he says, have heard from the beginning. He says that, but he also changes a very important subject here. A very important difference from the statement he makes in the first verse of the first chapter of John.
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  And what we read now in verse 11 of chapter 3. Do you guys see, without reading your notes, the difference between what he says in verse 11 versus what he says in verse 1? We and you. Well done, Clarence. Absolutely. He changes in verse 1 of chapter 1. He says,
• 8:59
  was seen from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we looked on. Here he says, for this is the message that you have heard.
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  From the beginning. In the first chapter he says we. And here he says you. John is telling them that they are partakers in this message. That this is a truth that they know. They have heard it already. This is not a revelation. But a reminder to them of things that they have already heard. A call to think back to that which they already have received and know. Now this message which.
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  they had heard from the beginning is most assuredly, again, a reference to the gospel of John chapter 13, verse 34, where Christ tells the disciples in the upper room discourse, a new command I give to you, that you love one another.
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  As John begins to address love and sonship, or the idea, when we think of sonship, that we are full heirs. When it's sonship, it is not gender exclusive. It is an identification of the fact that we are full heirs as believers. We are full heirs of the love of Christ. He does so in contrasting ways as he has done through the entire epistle to this point. And it reminds the church, once again, that though...
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  that this is not something which has not already been heard before. They know this. This is not a new message. This is something that they've heard even from the beginning.
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  And in a sense, we get the sense that John is saying, don't discredit the message because it hasn't changed one bit since Christ said it. Don't just think because I'm writing it that it's different or not as important. And in fact, this message of love and care is seen throughout the entire Bible. You guys are going to get two references to Deuteronomy tonight. I'm sorry. I'm in my Bible reading plan and Deuteronomy is part of it.
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  These just stood out to me this week as I was reading through this. So we're going to get a couple references to Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 24, for instance, Israel is commanded to leave that which was not collected in the first go-round of harvesting for those who were less fortunate, the poor, the homeless, the widows, the fatherless, the orphans. God...
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  has always, brothers and sisters, God has always from the very beginning as he has chosen people, as he chose Israel, Israel was set apart for a reason, for a purpose, that they would stand out in the way that they reflect God in the love for a lost world. That is why in Deuteronomy 24 that that is commanded and that is why we are called to express love as the church. God has always intended his people, both Israel and the New Testament church, to be a blessing.
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  blessing to be an expression of his love for that lost and dying world. And John says again, this is not new love. You've heard this before love, but right after he makes that statement for this message, you've heard from the beginning that we should love one another. He follows it up with a pretty drastic, uh, contrasting picture.
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  John, after stating this truth that we are called to love, then starts off with this negative example, one of a failure to love, one of, in fact, the first example of the truth that out of the heart springs forth the truth of who we truly are. Out of our heart is born the actions of our lives. John...
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  In the following verses, I believe, gives us four actions which can come even after we know the truth. Four types of responses. They might seem drastic, but they're what he says, and I believe we'll examine why they are so drastic and how they are possible. He says that murder, hate, and apathy, and love are all possible for us. The first example he gives is this murderous type of example that is of Cain.
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  He says in verse 12, we should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. In verse 12, we read of Cain's murderous actions. This follows verse 11, which might seem a bit drastic and disconnected from the example to begin.
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  That he began with. To make this statement. Following a call to love. However the readers. Would have read this entire letter. In one sitting. And certainly the statement from 1st John. Chapter 2 verses 15 through 17. Would come to mind. That when we consider. Cain's actions. And we consider the call. And the warning of 1st John. Chapter 2 verses 15 through 17. I believe.
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  that stamps a little bit of this into picture, but I also believe that John has in mind the Sermon on the Mount where Christ says that
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  It says in that section with the heading on anger tells us that having hate in our hearts is the same as actually following through on those feelings, those hateful feelings towards a brother, towards another person is the same as following through. It's the same as the murderous action. And so John ties Cain, I believe in verse 12, to the everyone in verse 15.
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  You guys see that verse 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. He gives the example of Cain who murdered his brother. And now in verse 15, it says everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. I believe he is tying these things together, telling the readers and us this evening that hate is the same as murder, just as Christ did in the Sermon on the Mount. That the evil done by Cain in murdering his brother can be done by any one of us.
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  John, I believe, here is reminding the churches that we're all canes. People capable of what might seem like unspeakable evil, apart from the regeneration he spoke of in the previous ten verses. Something to note here in this first portion is that I believe we see here where the murderous spirit finds its origin. Where does hate find its origin?
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  find its origin? Where does it begin? You don't just get to a point where you murder your brother. You don't just get to a point where suddenly I have hate for a brother in Christ. That doesn't happen overnight. Where does it start? How does it start? The Bible says here that because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. The implications of this statement, I don't think is a far jump, especially when we consider, again, back to verses 15 through 17, that Cain probably
• 16:06
  envied his brother. And this envy became a murderous act. Again, this all ties back to those three verses, those warnings that John gives them in verses 15 through 17, where he warns them of the love of the world. And specifically verse 16, where he talks about the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. Cain certainly had desire. He had a desire of the flesh.
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  He felt wronged by the fact that God wouldn't have accepted his offering. He felt it was perfectly fine to act not in accordance with the way that God had asked them to make offerings, with the things that God had asked him to make offerings. He certainly had pride. I can just picture Cain asking the question, why should my brother's offering be acceptable and not mine? Why would he favor...
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  Find favor and not me. This envy, this question, all led to the first act of murder recorded. Brothers and sisters, we can give way to a murderous heart if we allow envy into our lives. If the desires of this world can come in and take hold of us and our hearts, if we are not on watch. Believe that John puts this in here as a very serious...
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  warning to this church not to allow envy, not to allow the love of the world to overtake their hearts. Then he goes on in verse 13. Verse 13 says, Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. Don't be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. John tells us the world hates the believer. A statement from John ties.
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  Again, back to the gospel of John and his recording of the upper room discourse, and specifically here, John 15, 18, where Christ tells the disciples that they will be hated, but not because of who they are, because of who Christ is. They will be hated because of Christ. And now in this epistle of John to the churches in Asia Minor, John reminds the churches,
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  of this truth, that the hate of the world is promised and should be expected. You know, when we consider why the world hates the Christian, why does the world hate the Christian? It's certainly because of the name of Christ, but I think there's something specific about a Christian who is living out the love that they have been
• 19:09
  given, living out the love that they have been gifted from God, living out the salvation that we have been given that irritates them. That's irritating. You know, certainly as a dad and as a husband, I have plenty of opportunity to be reminded of the many times that I am wrong. I didn't realize how much correction I was going to get by having two daughters.
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  But there is an added amount of correction that takes place in my home because I have two daughters. They remind me often of some of the things, especially my oldest. If you guys know Lucy, she reminds me of the things that I'm doing that may not be necessarily smart, necessarily safe. I don't know if that's wise, Dad. I'm like, sweetie, you're 10. Let's just enjoy things. But I don't always enjoy it. I don't like being pointed out where I mess up, right? It's not always the thing.
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  bring me joy often when I'm corrected. They're often right, but it's not my favorite thing in the
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  See, that illustration is the reality of that, of being reminded constantly of what we've done wrong, of what we've fallen short, of our guilt, is not what any of us wants. The fact of the matter is that the believer, if living out our faith and joy, reminds the non-believer of their need for a Savior. It reminds us, it reminds them of the inability of all
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  that they do to secure peace and forgiveness in their life in fact that's the pursuit of everything they do is to dull the pain of the guilt that only christ can fill and if we're living
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  lovingly, if we're living joyously, if we're living peaceably in a world that doesn't make sense to live that way, it reminds them that there's something missing and it's not going to be what they want to see. They're going to be reminded of the lack they have. Some will be called to accept Christ, but others will just be reminded of the guilt and the fact that they need a Savior and they don't want that. They don't want that.
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  And this contrast, this example is spotted by a non-believer. This contrast is an example, is spotted by a non-believer when we love our family as a family love. So the contrasting nature of our lives and the non-believer's life is spotted by them when we are living out love as a family should love. John says, because we love.
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  He says that the world hates us. And he says later in verse 14 that we have passed out from death into life. And because we love the brothers, love and hate.
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  light and dark, truth and deception. John's entire epistle is about contrast and the two very divergent paths which are set daily before the believer are in clear view that we can choose to live in the dark, we can choose to live in the light, we can choose to live a life of love, we can choose to live a life of hate. And as I have lived longer and longer in my life,
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  more and more firmly, I believe, and become fixed on the fact that God has given us, the believer, the opportunity to be a contrast. Contrast in how we respond to hurt, to loss, to difficulty. And these opportunities are given because they reflect the contrast better than anything. The contrast reflects better than anything else that we could say or do in this life. What I mean by that is that
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  when we come in contact with situations that are inexplicably difficult, hard, we have opportunity to display a hope that goes beyond this life and something that a non-believer can't comprehend.
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  The most impactful and deep conversations that I ever got to have when I was at my previous job before coming on staff here were in times of difficulty where how I responded was in contrast to others around me. When we came to stressful situations in our workplace and you're calm and you're at peace and everybody else is worried and stressed, they're doing layoffs and you say, it's okay, I'm not worried.
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  These are opportunities to express this contrast, this light and dark, this difference that I think John continues to show throughout his whole book and is continuing in these verses. And it creates impact. It creates opportunity for questions. Danny read from this book tonight, actually, that we're reading through, Praying with Paul by D.A. Carson. We're reading through it in...
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  staff devotions and in it he talks about the fact that we as Christians have a bond apart from any earthly reasons to be together. And it's odd. We hang out when we don't like the same things. We don't like the same movies. We don't have the same hobbies. We don't like the same sports. Some of us like sports. Other of us don't like sports. Some of us. But yet we get together and we have this bond.
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  We don't have to enjoy the same things, D.A. Carson says, in order to have fellowship, to have this deep bond which comes, which is stronger than anything the world experiences. And this is because of Christ, the common thread of Christian fellowship and love.
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  I believe John is saying the same thing and we contrast the world and in so doing remind them again back to that reason for their hate. As we come together and we bond together because we know Christ, because we love Christ, because we love each other, it reminds them of their need for a savior and often will be met with hate because of it. Next, John speaks.
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  After John speaks to the murderous and hateful hearts, he speaks to the apathetic heart, the heart which is dead to compassion and care. Apathy. We're going to go through these quick because we apparently have six minutes. All right. Apathy. Verse 17. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love...
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  Abide in him. There are two specific things that I want to point out in here. The first is that they see it. And if you notice, they have the ability to appease this hurt, this need in their fellow believer. So it's not an unknown thing.
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  And it's not something that they don't have the ability to meet the need for. They're not poor alongside them, seeing a need and incapable of helping them. They have the means to do so. I do this for a couple reasons. One, we can sometimes lay the guilt on ourselves and on each other for not acting sometimes in times of need of people. We don't always have the means.
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  And we don't always know all the needs. But this clearly says, if we have the means and we know, we should do something. The apathetic, I'm way off my notes, so you don't have to worry about those right now. Because we're going to finish up. The apathetic believer sees these things and says, someone else. It's someone else's problem. That's too messy.
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  That's not my gift. That's not what God has called me to. John speaks directly against this. How, he says, how does God's love abide in him? If we see these needs in our brothers and sisters, and we have the ability to help, how could we possibly say,
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  That the love of God abides. Remember, that's a key word in this. This is abide. This is that communion with the Lord. This is not salvation. This is a communal love. How can we say that God's love abides in us if we see need and do not act? The Christian should be one of the most willing to take action. And that leads us to our last word.
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  that we will look at, verses 16 and 18, as he says that we can have a response to the call to love, which is murderous. We can have a hate. We can have apathetic response. Last, we can have a response that is active, that takes action. Verse 16, it says, By this we know. By this.
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  By what? By Christ. Because of Christ, Christ is the expression of love. Christ is the definition of love. Romans tells us, as I said last week, Romans tells us, sure, for a righteous man one might die, but for a wicked man, no way. Even more so, who would die for an enemy? Somebody who's actually at war with them. We're told we're at war with God before we have come to know Him, and yet He sent His Son.
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  To die for us. The Father's love compelled Him to act. To show us that while we were still sinners, Christ was going to die for us. This is the example. This is the call. The finish to verse 11. We should love one another. Why? Because Christ loved us first. How? Verse 18 answers that.
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  Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Indeed and in truth. Follow the active example of Christ. John says, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Let's hop over really quickly. I love this passage. Ephesians chapter 4.
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  Ephesians chapter 4, verses 7 through 16. This section kind of, if you want to ask Bob, why do we study the entire epistle? Well, this passage really to me in many ways summarizes the entire epistle of 1 John. Verse 7 through the end of that section 16 says this, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ.
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  Therefore, it says when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men in saying he ascended. What does it mean? But that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.
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  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that
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  We may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. That is exactly what's happening to these churches in Asia Minor. By human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ.
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  from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it's equipped. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in what? Love. Love. By this we know love. Therefore, let us...
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  not love in word or talk, but in deed and truth, so that the church is equipped and working properly, which will make the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. I think that statement really encapsulates this section and really a lot of the epistle of John as a whole. That's it, folks. That is the entire purpose of the church in one call.
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  Praise God and amen, right? If we take action on what we have received, the church will look like the church. And we can do that because, as Ephesians said,
• 33:49
  Paid for it all. He expressed, he was the perfect expression of love to us. And he, by so doing, allowed us to even know what love is. By this we know love. Brothers and sisters, by this, by Christ, we know what love is. That is an incredible, incredible statement. I pray that we don't have those...
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  apathetic responses, that we really do walk our faith in deed and in truth, that we take action as God calls on our hearts, that as he presses on us, as his spirit reveals, we will respond. Let's pray.
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  God in heaven, Lord, I thank you for this epistle of John. I thank you for his desire to draw such a sharp contrast between the lives that we can live. Lord, the path of destruction is clear. It's set before us. It's not veiled. It's clearly revealed in your word where envy, where pride, where desires of this life will lead us. Destruction.
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  But God, it is also clearly revealed in your word where your spirit wants to take us. That is to healing. That is to redemption. That is to joy. That is to peace. That is to action that others might know your love as we have experienced it. God, we thank you for these things. We give you praise and glory because you are worthy of it in your name. Amen.