Sermon: Knowing Love

Let's turn our attention to God's word. Now. I think it's helpful to just take a moment to realize that the God who called us into worship this morning, he's also, he has received our, our confession of sins. He has assured us of his saving mercy. He, he has heard our prayers and now he urges us to listen. He has a word for us here. We're preparing now to, to hear him speak through his word for the good of his people.

So as you come to his word this morning, come expectantly, listen eagerly for what the Lord might have for you. Uh, if you haven't already, please turn with me in your Bibles to First John chapter three. You can see in your bulletin, uh, that that is, you'll find our text on page 1022.

You may remember in this letter so far, the Apostle John has been writing to Christians throughout the church, uh, through many local churches, and he's been explaining how knowing God practically impacts someone's life. Uh, to be a Christian means to have a life that's marked with rightly ordered loves and adherence to divine truth. Uh, these are things that set Christians apart from the world. A child of God will look different from someone who's

living as a child of the devil. As Pastor Nate pointed out last week and in our text this morning specifically, we're going to see that John circles back to a topic that he's introduced to us already. And this letter, he's going to talk about the importance of love. This isn't going to be the last time he talk, talks about it in his letter. In fact, he's going to do so more and more. Uh, but John here, he, he returns to the importance of love

and he points out new insights for us. He opens up a new hallway in the house to help us to explore the, the interior of God's love more fully. That's what we're going to see as we continue on here in one John chapter three. We're gonna explore the significance of love in the Christian life in just a moment. I'll read for us for one John chapter three, starting in verse 10. Actually to give just a little bit more additional context.

But before I read our text, please pray with me. We're going to ask for God's help as we come to his word this morning.

God in heaven, we come to your word with a, a recognition that if, if we just try to peel back layers all by ourself, if we rely on our own understanding or our own capacity, then we're going to be gravely disappointed. We need the work of your Holy Spirit to attend your word. And so we pray, Lord, make yourself known in a fresh way. Convince us once again forgotten truths. Lord, we thank you that you are a God who delights in revealing himself.

Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself now, and we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Listen now to the reading of God's word from First John chapter three. I'll read verses 10 through 24. By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice, righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the

beginning, so that we would love one another. We should not be like Cain who is of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers 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. 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 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 indeed and in truth By this, we shall know that we are of the truth

and reassure our hearts before him for whenever our heart condemns us. God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us.

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. This is the holy and inherent word of God.

Many people today have a view of love that is merely human. And what I mean by this is that their understanding of love has been formed without reference to God. When it comes to explaining where love comes from or why it's important or who gets to define it, it's assumed that love is simply manmade.

So secular voices will say when as they're trying to account for where love comes from, well love loving behaviors, they just must be biological accidents. They're just originating from some sort of hidden mutation in the hidden genome. That's all that they can do to account for it. But this of course would mean that, that if that's true, then love isn't inherently noble or significant. There's no beauty to love. It's, it's not really anything tangible or or meaningful.

It's just a human chemical reaction, a human construct, a human characteristic.

But the Bible makes it abundantly clear that love comes from a much different source. The holy scriptures introduce us to a love that precedes humanity, a love that's ancient and expansive. We're told about a love that's profoundly meaningful and brilliantly multifaceted. The Bible brings us face-to-face with the love of God. Love is far more than just a human feeling, a human concept, a human duty, a human a, a product

of human brain chemistry. Knowing the Bible speaks about love, it isn't talking about fleshly passions or middle school crushes or about our affection for tacos.

Love isn't something developed by us or defined by us. Rather, love is from God. John himself points this out later in chapter four, verse seven. And for Christians, this shouldn't be a new idea for us. In fact, God's love for us, this love which is from God is what explains how we became Christians in the first place. We received forgiveness in favor from him, not because of our love for God, but because of his love for us

and his provision of a savior. So our carnal passions aren't anything to boast about. The feeble movements of human love won't put you or I on a podium to get a medal. We can't perceive or produce genuine love simply by looking to ourselves because love is from God, not from us. And it's with this understanding in mind that John writes to these Christians. He wants them to make sure that they know the love of God. He wants them to know that they know the love of God,

knowing God and knowing love necessarily go together. And John also wants his brothers and sisters to enjoy the beauty and benefits of this divine love. So John lays out three main ideas in our text to help us appreciate the important role of love in the Christian life. Uh, first John points out that love when absent takes life away. Second, John indicates that love when present lays down its life in order to bring life.

And then third and finally, John explains how love when practiced gives assurance of life. Uh, so those will be the three main ideas that we'll see in our text this morning. Love when absent takes away life. Love when present lays down its life and love when practiced gives assurance of life. So first, love when absent takes away life. In verses 10 through 15, John shows us the importance of love by describing, by describing the fatal consequences

of its absence. Remember in verse 10, John has just pointed out that, that there's an observable difference between those who follow God and those who follow the ways of the evil, one between the children of God and the children of the devil. And in the second half of the verse, he further spells out this difference by explaining what a child of the devil looks like. Uh, there's no mention here of a, of a person wearing red horns and carrying a pitchfork.

Uh, that'd make it a lot easier to tell who's who, but that's not what he says. Instead, John says, whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. So in other words, if someone is still shackled in their sin, if they're still love living for the devil instead of God, then you'll see it in two ways. These people won't be serious about following God's commands. They won't practice righteousness

and they won't be serious about loving God's people. They won't love their brother. And John understands that what he's saying here isn't a new insight. In verse 11, he says, for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, well, from the beginning of what John, uh, what message are you referring to? Well, he goes on to answer this question for us in verses 12 through 15, he's pointing us back to the beginning of the Bible.

So, so we're really talking about the beginning here, the beginning of human history. He take takes us back to Genesis chapters three and four. John seems to have Genesis chapter three, verse 15 on his mind, where God tells the first woman Eve that there would be enmity between her righteous offspring and the offspring of the devil, the serpent, right children of God, children of the devil. And then God, John explicitly calls our attention

to the ordeal between Cain and his brother Abel. That's recorded in Genesis four. This is a story that's probably familiar to many of you. Uh, Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. And Genesis four records that Cain and Abel, these two men were farmers, would seem that Abel spent more of his time raising livestock. Kane more so was involved in tilling fields and raising crops, vegetables. And at some point in their life, Caan Abel decide

that it's about the right time to, to offer some sort of expression of their worship to God. The text doesn't come right out and say it, but it's implied that, that God had given them this idea somehow to, to bring a sacrifice to him as a way to express their worship. And so the text tells us that Kain brings an assorted selection of fruits from the ground. It's not very clear whether it was the best of his crops or the worst of his crops

or just something in between there. There's not really a, a big description that would indicate that it was a really well thought out gift. But when we see what Genesis four verse four says, we see that Abel's gift is intentionally a rich one. It says that Abel brought the firstborn of his flock in the fat portions, which means that he was giving God first pickings the richest sections of meat, the best that he had to offer.

And God smiled upon Abel's offering though then we see in verse five of Genesis four that for Cain and his offering, God had no regard. So Cain was angry and his face fell at that point. God mercifully steps in here because he knows all is not right with Cain. And he gives him wise words of instruction and caution in verse seven. And he says, if you do well, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door.

And yet Cain pushes God away here. He doesn't love God's word or listen to it. And Cain doesn't love his brother Abel, but he instead kills him motivated by anger and jealousy. And Genesis four goes on to explain that Cain receives a bitter consequence for his wickedness. So, so this is what John is referring to here, right? He's pointing back to Genesis. And in verse 12, he tells Christians like you and I, we should not be like Cain.

Yeah, I agree, right? But why? Well, John goes on to make it pretty clear why we shouldn't follow Cain's example. And he says it's because he was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

Now, when John says that Cain was of the evil one, he, he's identifying Cain as a child of the devil. And John isn't just making this claim arbitrarily, but instead I I'm convinced that he's actually making a reference here to Genesis three 15. He's doing some deduction and he's concluding that the Cain is functioning here indeed as, as a spiritual offspring of the devil. 'cause you might remember in Genesis three 15, God declared

that there would be enmity between the devil's offspring and the offspring of Eve. And so Cain, by striking at the righteous offspring of the woman, he shows himself to be in league with Satan. Cain proves himself to be an offspring of the devil. Abel is a, uh, Cain's attack on Abel here. It's a foretaste of the ongoing onslaught from the devil against Christ in his church. Satan was a murderer in the beginning seeking the death

of Adam Eve in the human race. And Cain followed right along in his footsteps by killing his brother. Cain is a child of the devil because he walks in hatred and not in love.

And lovelessness has a fatal effect. It doesn't make things better, doesn't add life, but it takes life away. It leads to death. And John goes on to explain what it was that motivated Cain's hatred here at the end of verse 12. The problem here wasn't that Abel had done something wrong. He hadn't said anything offensive against his brother. No. The problem here was simply that Abel had done things right.

Cain detested it. See, we're we're told here that Cain loathed Abel, because Cain's own deeds were evil, and his brother's deeds were righteous. That's what motivated his hate. Not Abel's wrongness, Cain's wrongness, his jealousy, his anger. And John goes on to suggest that people in the world will continue to hate Christians for the same reason.

And we see this because in verse 13, John tells the Christians that he's righting to don't be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. Apparently at that time, the church was experiencing antagonism from the world around them, some sort of significant persecution. Perhaps the world was, uh, was actively trying to take away their possessions. Maybe the cultural elites were militating against them. Their neighbors maybe were shutting them

and their businesses, their family members perhaps were disowning them. We don't know the full extent of what was going on here. But given that John is referencing Cain's hatred for Abel here, it's quite likely that Christians were being put to death, right? The world hated them. And perhaps you can imagine them wondering, have we missed something? Are we at, are we doing something wrong? And John says, no, no. Don't be surprised.

For people who have no interest in God, who don't know his love, who don't appreciate his righteousness, we shouldn't expect the world to like what they see in us.

The world very well may feel judged by our graciousness. They may feel threatened by our kindness. People may be offended by our love when people in the world hate us. We shouldn't assume we must be doing something incorrectly when the world persecutes Christians and puts them to death. We shouldn't be surprised because as John points out, the world has been doing this to the children of God from the very beginning.

Yet this is probably a bit discouraging, right? It's like, okay, great. Expect punishment, persecution, hatred from the world. Well, John doesn't want us to be discouraged by this. And so in verse 14, he points out that knowing the love of God gives us reason for great confidence, even when the world hates us, even in times of suffering and uncertainty. I, I'll end up developing this point a little bit more later, but notice John's reminder to the church here.

He declares that for all those who love the brothers, for Christians who are walking in love, they don't have to be afraid of the world's threats. Why? Because he says It's Their love is an indicator that they have passed out of death into life. They have passed out of the, the fear of, of mortal, deadness and spiritual life into the hope and the assurance of an unbreakable life from God.

Though the world may kill their bodies of flesh, the love of God brings new life that can't be struck down. Christians have received an invincible hope, a shield and set of armor that can't be penetrated by any of the weapons that the world might bring against us through faith. We have confidence of resurrection and the promise of eternal life. And so John wants us to know this, you've passed from death to life. Don't be discouraged, don't be afraid.

But then he goes on to point out that the person who does not love has no such assurance. In verse 14, he says, the person who does not love abides in death, that person dwells in death, remains in death. And he adds to this in verse 15 by saying, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

In other words, hatred it, it devalues life. It aims at harm and it leads to death. And because of this, John says, the person who hates is guilty of murder. The Lord Jesus himself says this on his sermon, in his sermon on the Mount, The man who hates his brother may think that he's scoring a victory, but he's actually sealing his defeat. He may think that he's opening up a new life for himself, but instead he's forfeiting it,

holding onto grudges, getting revenge, sabotaging people you dislike. It may seem like a road to happiness, but it leads only to misery. Hatred only leads to death and destruction not just for others, but of course for yourself,

a heart who, where love is absent, doesn't have life and it won't give life to anyone. It will only ever take life away. So remember John has said that God gave us the message concerning the fatal consequences of Cain's hatred. He gave us this message for a reason why, so that we'd love one another so that we would see the importance of love. But even though John points at Cain as a counter example of love, and even though he says, don't live like that,

well, this of course opens the question for us. Well then where do we look to know what real love is? What does genuine love look like?

And this is precisely what John gets to in the next section of our text. He explains in verses 16 through 18, that love when present lays down its life. This is the second main point we see here in our text. And John makes this point. He reminds us of the true nature of love by directing our attention, our attention to Jesus. So, so look down with me to verse 16. John reminds us how love can be identified when he says,

by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us. So make sure you notice how John refers to love here. Make sure you see this. He doesn't consider love to be some sort of independent abstract idea that just kind of floats around in in the another world of ideas. He doesn't consider love to, to be something that existed eternally as though it was something that God kind of came across one day and he said, oh, this looks kind of nice.

I think I'm gonna to learn to love. No, uh, the love that is the real love. It has its definition and existence in God himself. Love exists because God exists. And so John's point here is that we can't truly know love without knowing a person. The only way we can know the true nature of love is by knowing God specifically, by knowing the divine Son. This is why John says, by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us.

But but in that little phrase, right? By this, we know love that he laid down his life for us. John also wants to make sure we know what Jesus did to make this love knowable, to bring this life, uh, this love into, into a, a realm which is understandable and visible to us.

Certainly we could say that Jesus' life is, was full of love.

He acted in love when he taught his disciples. Jesus was abounding in love when he, when he cast out demons and when he healed the sick and when he blessed the little children. And yet those, none of those things are what John points to and describing for us the true nature of God's love. Instead, he points to a specific event, a very specific work of Christ that shows us love in its truest most vibrant expression, the spotlights

of heaven are concentrated here decisively on the cross. By this, we know love that he laid down his life for us.

John wants to make sure that, that we don't get so caught up in the, the ins and outs of life. That, that we forget what Jesus has done for us. We need to remember who and what this love is. The divine Son who was crowned with glory and immortality, he willingly dressed himself in the tattered rags of immortal human nature for us. He Drank from the muddy wells of first century Galilee. He experienced hunger and sickness, countless temptations, sleeplessness, sorrow,

loneliness and rejection, betrayal, torment and mockery. But of course, beyond all these things, Jesus voluntarily carried the guilt and the curse of our sins and was struck down under the judicial hammer of God's wrath. Jesus objected himself to all this from the time of his birth until the hour of crucifixion. And he did this not because he was impressed with us, not because we were good people, 'cause none of us were good.

We Were rebels, enemies of God, selfish, profane, polluted by our evil thoughts and words. Know it was love that drove Jesus to the cross. It was love that propelled him to lay down his life, to bring us forgiveness and eternal life. So notice two things here about Christ's great love. First, it comes with no conditions.

Uh, for those of you who are married, uh, it's possible you can relate to this. If there may be times when you aren't getting along with your spouse, you might be tempted to withhold affection from him or her, and you can start to play little games in your mind and think, well, I I'm just gonna wait for that person to break the ice. It's not my duty to do that. They need to do it right, but before I show them warmth, they need to apologize

before I affirm what they've done. They need to congratulate me for my hard work. But that's not how Christ loves us. He doesn't impose standards that must be met before we can receive love from him as some sort of payment. No. Instead, Christ gives his love as a gift. He initiates with it. Genuine love comes with no conditions. But John also points out a second aspect of Christ's love, that it comes with no limits when it comes to loving people with his earthly resources.

Christ's attitude isn't how much can I hoard for myself? How much can I keep back? But instead, he's asking the question, how much can I give? Right? His love isn't a 10% love. It's not a 50% love, but his is a wholehearted self abandoning love. Jesus expresses the fullness of his love by laying down the absolute fullness of his earthly resources, his very Life. His love comes with no limits, and knowing the greatness

of Christ's love toward us brings great comfort. It brings hope to those who are suffering. It brings joy to the heavy heart. But you have to understand that knowing Christ's love also brings a responsibility. John refers to this in the second half of verse 14, when he says, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. It's not just speaking to a certain subset of people in the church. He's speaking to all of us. We should be willing

to love the fellow believers who are with us in the church, to lay aside our personal ambitions and our worldly goods for the sake of those around us, because this is how Christ loved us. Love lays down its life for the good of others. By this we know love. And John insists on this rather strongly, which is why he comments in verse 17. If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart against him,

how does God's love abide in him? People who know God's love will love others actively, visibly. So just look at your brothers and sisters around the room here for a moment. There may be people here who are still strangers to you. That's fine. There may be people in this room that you at times experience some pretty significant relational tension with.

But I hope you understand here. John urges you here. Lean in and love your brothers. Love your sisters. Open your homes to them. Listen to them. Help them financially. Take meals to them. Babysit their children. Help them with yard work with cleaning their homes. Pray for them. Be committed to them. Lay down your lives for the good of your fellow Christians. Love mustn't. Just be something we talk about at church. It does no good if we theologize about it without having

love actualized in how we live.

John urges us in verse 18. Little children let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. And John urges us into this because he knows that when we live according to this love, it testifies to us that we are indeed genuine children of God. Love when practiced gives assurance of life. This is my third and final point this morning. Love when practiced gives assurance of life. John says, by this, by loving indeed

and in truth, we shall know we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him. And he simply pointing out here, right Since it's impossible for a child of the devil to love is God loves. That necessarily means that love is indisputable evidence of a converted heart. Even though our love will still be unrefined and imperfect, if you have the ability to love others freely without making demands with something of the generous heart of Christ,

this is evidence that you have life.

And God himself wants you to know this and to be comforted by it. He wants his people to see the fruit of love in their lives so that they can have increased confidence that he is in us and we are in him. Because from time to time we'll be tempted to doubt, won't we? Perhaps some of you are even wondering about this very thing today.

John recognizes that our hearts probably won't feel any sort of powerful divine presence within us. In fact, as he points out in verse 20, our hearts may be the very voice that's crying out to accuse us

might be saying, your personal history is too vulgar. Your crimes are too many. Your hearts may claim that you're too far out to sea for God's mercy to reel you back in.

But notice what John says here. Whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. And he knows well. He knows the condition of our souls better than we do. He knows everything.

And God is the one who tells us here that if you have love, you have life.

If there is a new force of love in your life that's growing and driving out your old patterns of jealousy and anger, then the Lord wants you to rest and confidence that you are a child of God. And if your heart tries to say something different, then, then you should just call your heart out on telling a lie. It doesn't know what it's talking about. You don't listen to your heart. John says, you listen to God. If you know something of what it means

to love like Christ loved you, then you have ammunition to F off the attacks of doubt and despair. John wants us to understand there's tremendous encouragement to be found in living as a child of God. We're granted increased confidence in our judicial standing before him. Verse 21, we're given confidence in our prayers. Verse 22, and we're given confidence of his indwelling presence with us in verse 24, When we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus of course, is the foundation of our peace with God. And when we love our brothers, that's the fruit of our peace with God when we have the foundation and the fruits of salvation, well then John tells us, you can know that God saving love has come to you.

And so I think it's makes sense to ask at this point, do you know this love? Do you have you grieved over your hardheartedness toward God, your hatefulness toward your brothers and sisters? Have you admitted the wrongness of your selfishness, your lusts, your greed? Have you cried out to Jesus confident of his work on the cross seeking that he would take away the penalty of your sins and give you a new heart, A heart that can love like he loves?

Because the one who calls on Jesus won't be turned away?

The love he has, he gives freely and perfectly. Do you know the love of Christ?

If you do, make sure you realize you will love your brothers and sisters. You must you love them, whether they're rich or poor, whether they're socially savvy or socially awkward, You'll love in the midst of storm and in the midst of calm, you'll love without expecting repayment from a generous giving heart. Yes, the one who loves like this can be reassured. You are a child of God and oh, may. May the people of this church

know this love. May they know the love of Christ and practice it. May we do this together until we enjoy its fullness and glory. Please pray with me.

God, we bow ourselves before the greatness of your timeless love that knew us from eternity past and that will endure for the the everlasting ages to come. Help us to understand the depths and dimensions of your love and by your spirit, enable us to love others with the very love of Christ. Please work through your word to convict the loveless, to comfort, the doubting, and to compel us onward. Lord, we pray that Christ would be honored in this

and may the world see we are Christians by our love. We pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen.