Love and Hate - Knowing the Difference: 1st John Lesson 16

1 John 3:11-18

 It has been a couple weeks since we have been in 1 John. If you are visiting I want to let you know that we study through books of the Bible verse by verse. We are currently studying 1 John and we are in the middle of Chapter 3. 

 John is very black and white. He is extremely dogmatic. There are no shades of gray with John. John’s purpose for writing this book is stated in 5:13. He has written these things so that those who believe on the name of the Son of God may know they have eternal life. John wants us to know we are Christians. He is giving us a series of tests by which we can determine if we are truly the children of God. John has repeatedly emphasized that it isn’t what we say that determines the truth about our salvation. It is the way we live.

 In the first half of Chapter 3 we saw what might be called “the practice of righteousness test.” John painted a clear picture of the differences between those who are the children of God and those who are children of the devil. The children of God practice righteousness. Though they will occasionally sin, they will not habitually practice sin. Those who practice righteous as a consistent pattern of life demonstrate the truth regarding their spiritual parentage. Those who practice sin as a consistent pattern of life also demonstrate the truth concerning their spiritual parentage. Those who practice righteousness are the children of God. Those who practice sin are the children of the devil.

 In this next section of 1 John 3 we find what we might call the love test. If you have been here all along you probably will recognize that this is the love test part 2. We need to understand this about 1 John. John repeats certain themes over and over in this letter. It is written in cycles, or sort of in a spiral fashion. He has three primary themes. These are love, obedience, and truth. He brings these up again and again. Each time he circles back to a topic he discusses it in more detail, giving more insight on the subject. This is a really effective method of teaching. It is always good to lay a foundation and build on the foundation with additional truth. John does that in this letter.

John gave us the love test part 1 in Chapter 2:7-11. In that passage we were challenged to obey the new commandment. Love for one another wasn’t a new commandment. It was established in the Old Testament. The new aspect was the fact that we are now called and commanded to love one another as Christ has loved us. Christ revealed to us the true nature and character of God’s love and those who are born of God possess the capacity to love like He loves.

This second edition of the love test goes into more detail as it describes the difference between the love of the children of God and the love of those who are of the evil one, those who are of the world, those who do not have eternal life abiding in them. Let’s read 1 John 3:11-18 and I want you to observe the contrasts between those who love and those who do not. Read the passage.

 In the love test of chapter 2 we saw that the one who does not love his brother walks in darkness. Here we learn that the one who does not love his brother abides in death. Verse 14 says, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.” Here is another stark contrast. You can’t get any further apart than light and darkness, or life and death. Love and hatred are as far apart as light and darkness and life and death. According to John, we are all either the children of God and this reality is revealed in the way we love, or we are without eternal life and we do not love. 

 In the love test from chapter 2 the contrast was between light and darkness. The emphasis there is on fellowship. What do light and darkness have in common? Nothing. Those who walk in darkness do not have anything in common with those who walk in the light. Those who walk in darkness love darkness because their deeds are evil. Those who walk in the light love the light and are not concerned that their deeds are exposed. The emphasis in chapter two is on the fellowship of love.

 The emphasis in Chapter three is on the relationships of love. John exposes the truth about those who are not children of God. They hate, which is really no different from murder. They hate the children of God as we will see in verse 13. They are indifferent to the needs of others. They see someone in need and close their hearts against them because the love of God does not abide in them. On the other hand, the children of God truly love the brethren. Our relationships are characterized by sacrifice, not selfishness, by giving, not greed. John is applying the love test, not to our words, but to our deeds.

 In verses 11-18 John is telling us why the unregenerate hates and how the children of God love. We will understand why the world hates. We will learn how the children of God manifest the love of God.

 Verse 11 picks up where verse 10 leaves off. Verse 10 was transitional. “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” This ties the two major themes of chapter 3 together. The first section was about walking in righteousness, this next section is about love for one another.

 Then he writes, “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” John is referring to the beginning of the preaching of the gospel and the message of the apostles. The apostles had heard this message from Jesus. Jesus had commanded them to love one another even as He had loved them. The context of that commandment was on the night of the arrest of Jesus. He had washed the feet of the disciples and reinforced the most important elements of His teaching. Love one another was the message of the disciples of Jesus from the beginning. In fact, this love for one another would be the distinguishing mark of Christians. Jesus said that this was how all men would know we were His disciples, because of our love for one another.

 Then John takes this discussion of love in a compelling direction. He goes to the illustration of Cain as an example of how not to love. This is the only Old Testament reference in the entire letter of First John. John writes, “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother.” To understand this we really must go to this account in the book of Genesis. Read Genesis 4:1-8.

 John reveals the truth about Cain. He was “of the evil one.” He was not a child of God. Even though he was not a child of God, he was participating in the worship of God. He was a religious man. He believed in God. He knew the story of creation. He knew God was the Creator. He also knew the story of redemption. He knew that God had killed an animal and provided skins for clothing for his parents. He knew what kind of sacrifice God required.

 His problem was that he refused to worship as God required. He offered self-styled worship. Rather than a blood sacrifice which would demonstrate his recognition of his need for forgiveness from God, he offered the product of the work of his own hands. It was something he had grown. It was an effort to be right with God through human effort, not grace and mercy. And God rejected his offering, rightfully so. We don’t get to decide how God should be worshiped. He prescribes that. We worship Him in spirit and truth. We acknowledge our need for His abundant mercy and grace and we humble ourselves in His presence and praise Him for His goodness. Cain was proud of the works of his own hands and he gave what he wanted to give rather than what he knew God required.

 John tells us something else Cain understood. He knew his deeds were evil and that his brother’s were righteous. At the heart of Cain’s hatred for his brother was Abel’s commitment to walk in truth and righteousness. Abel’s deeds were righteous because they were according to God’s truth. This is an important connection between the last section and this section. The true children of God practice righteousness. There is only one way to practice righteousness and that is to walk according to the truth. Jesus told us that God’s word is truth. It is in God’s truth that we are sanctified.

 Cain hated Able because Able walked according to God’s truth and was practicing righteousness. Those who walk in darkness love that darkness because their deeds are evil. Those who are of the evil one, like Cain, hate those who walk in the truth and practice righteousness because their deeds are exposed as evil. 

 This is why John says what he says in verse 13. “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.” The world, because those who are in the world are of the evil one, they are the children of the devil, they do not practice righteousness, they practice sin. When we walk in truth and practice righteousness, we expose their deeds as evil and they are confronted with the reality that they are of their father the devil.

 Cain was a religious person. Religious people hate righteous people. Why do I say that? It was what was true of Cain and Able. It was what was true of Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the most religious people on the face of the earth and they hated Jesus because He was perfectly righteous and His righteousness exposed their evil deeds. Jesus told us that the world would hate us because it hated Him. If we are like Him, the world will hate us as well.

 If we stand for truth and walk in righteousness, and our stand for righteousness elicits hatred from someone, that someone is of the evil one. I don’t care what church they belong to. I don’t care what they say about their belief in Jesus or in God. If they hate us for our stand for truth and righteousness, they are of the evil one. They are not children of God because the children of God love one another. It is true of God’s true children because they are all walking in truth and righteousness. 

 Taking a stand for righteousness is risky business, even among many who call themselves Christians. If we walk in truth and practice righteousness in the midst of ungodliness and worldliness, we will not be looked upon favorably. But if you are hated for the sake of righteousness, you are in good company. You are standing with Jesus. 

 The word John uses in verse 12 that is translated “slew” is significant. There are other words in the Greek that could have been used but John used “sphazo.” It means to slaughter. Cain knew that God had slaughtered an animal to picture the sacrifice required for forgiveness of sins. God prescribed the slaughter of animals in the Old Covenant by the slitting of the throat. John used this word to picture the brutality of Cain’s actions. Cain slit his brother’s throat. It was as if he said, “God, you want a sacrifice. I’ll offer a sacrifice.” He brutally murdered his brother because his deeds were righteous.

 So John explains why the world hates, especially the righteous. The world hates the righteous because their deeds are evil and the righteousness of God’s children exposes them as evil. The second reason why the world hates is because those who are not Christians abide in death. Look at verse 14. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”

 The reality is that those who are not born again through salvation are still spiritually dead. John 5:24 records these words of Jesus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we were all dead in our trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:5 tells us that even when we were dead in our transgressions God made us alive together with Christ and that by grace we have been saved. This is what it means to pass from death into life.

 We have learned that with this life comes the spiritual resources from the Holy Spirit to love as we have been commanded to love. This love of the brethren is the proof that we have passed out of death into life. But those who do not love still abide in death. Remember that this word abide is prominent in John’s letter. In Chapter 2 we learned that to abide in Jesus Christ means that we are one with Him. We are of the same mind, same heart and same will with Jesus Christ. John tells us here in verse 14 that the one who does not love abides in death. The one who does not love has the same heart, the same mind, and the same will as those who are spiritually dead. They do not have the capacity to love because they don’t have the life of Christ.

 We cannot expect those who are spiritually dead to be able to do what only a true child of God is capable of doing. I remind myself of this often. Lost people are going to act like lost people. Lost people do not have the Holy Spirit abiding in them. They are not capable of love, especially the sacrificial, selfless love that characterizes the true child of God.

 But there is something that comes naturally to them. We read about it in verse 15. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Hatred comes naturally to the one who is of the evil one. This was Cain’s problem. Cain hated Able. Cain’s hatred led to murder. In 2 Samuel 13 is the story of Absalom and Amnon. These were brothers. Absalom hated Amnon because of what he had done to their sister Tamar. Absalom’s hatred led to murder.

In God’s eyes hatred and murder are no different. Certainly the consequences and damage of murder far exceeds that of hatred, but in God’s eyes they are equal. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus equates anger with murder just like He equates lust with adultery.   

 John is simply stating what Jesus taught in straightforward language. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. He goes on to say that no murder has eternal life abiding in him. This does not teach that no one who has ever committed murder can never be saved. The Apostle Paul had a hand in the death of Stephen. Acts 8:1 says that he was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. He had a hand in the murder of an innocent man. This was before his conversion to Christ and before he had passed from death into life. A murderer who repents and trusts Christ for forgiveness is forgiven and made to be a new creature in Christ Jesus.

 But the one who persists in hatred is a murderer and no murder has eternal life abiding in them.

 I think that is enough of a look at the hatred of those who are not Christians. Because this passage gives us a stark contrast we get to conclude this message with a look at how the child of God loves. We now know why the unbeliever does not love the brethren. They hate the righteous deeds of the righteous. They lack the capacity to love because they do not have spiritual life abiding in them. They are just doing what comes naturally. Hatred is much more natural to the unregenerate than selfless, sacrificial love.

 I need to make this point before we move on. We do see the unregenerate do some loving things. We see unsaved people who love their children, or their spouse. We all know some non-Christians who seem to love better than some Christians. We all also know some Christians who do not appear to love sacrificially or selflessly. John is not teaching that every lost people is going to hate everyone he or she knows. Not every unbeliever is going to murder every Christian they know. John is talking about having the capacity to love one another or the capacity to hate someone. An unregenerate person does not have the capacity to love like Christ loves.

 The true child of God may get angry with someone. But the true child of God will not be able to stay angry and not forgive and harbor hatred in his or her heart towards another person. The love of God demands that we love, that we forgive, that we let go of our ill will towards those who have wronged us. In fact, we are to do good to them, bless them, and pray for them.

 John’s point here is that the one who is truly a child of God will see this evidenced in the way that he or she loves. We have already seen this briefly but we see in verse 14 that this is how we know we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. If you do not love your brothers and sisters in Christ, you have no legitimate claim to have passed from death into life. John did not want anyone confused on this point.

 This is not just to say that we love the brethren. The proof of our love for the brethren is that it follows the example of the One from whom we learned how to love. Look at verse 16. “We know love by this, that he laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” John has already told us back in 2:6 that the one who says he abides in Him (Christ) ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. Walking in the same manner as Jesus walked requires a willingness to lay down our lives for one another. It requires a willingness to wash dirty feet.

 In John 15:13 Jesus said that there was no greater expression of love than that one would lay down his life for another. This begs the question we need to all ask ourselves. How much am I willing to sacrifice for the brethren? I want you to think about this. In some ways taking the bullet is the easy way out. Laying down our lives is the ultimate sacrifice, but in some ways it is the easier sacrifice to make. Would I take a bullet to save my wife? I certainly would. But the far greater challenge is to love her selflessly and sacrificially in those moments when far less than taking the bullet is required.

 This is John’s point in verse 17. “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in Him?” If we will make the greatest sacrifice and lay down our lives for the brethren, why would we not step in and do what is needed when far less is required? John asks a pointed and very convicting question. How does the love of God abide in the one who can close his heart against someone in need when he has the ability to meet that need? I think John would conclude that there is a troublesome inconsistency in that person’s spiritual life.

 I want you to understand something. Don’t use this verse as justification for handing money out to anyone who asks. You don’t help a panhandler by giving them money. You actually enable them to continue in a destructive lifestyle. Give the money to the GRM. Let the panhandler get broke enough and hungry enough that they will go to a place like GRM where they can be truly helped.