Book of 1 John - Ch. 3, Vs. 13-Ch. 4, Vs. 21 (12/26/1999)

The World’s Hatred and the Marks of Brotherly Love

Were on. In the book of 1st John chapter 3 verse 13 we find this, marvel not my brethren if the world hate you. You remember studying about the monks? They were so proud of their lifestyle they claimed that it was perfection.

Then we have lots of religions today but there is no worship in any except Christianity. True worship. That includes Catholicism or any other cult. It's just an assortment of superstitions. But if we love one another we will be hated by the world.

And we need to know that the devil reigns where hatred, envy, and enmity prevail. Then I wanted to go over to another passage in 3. The 14th verse says we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. It follows then that if we love the brethren we're blessed but that we are miserable if we hate them. There is no one who does not wish to be freed and delivered from death.

So then those who by living with hatred are willingly giving themselves up to death. They must be extremely stupid or senseless. The apostle says that if we love one another that that's the only way that we can love the brethren is by the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

For he knew that there were some of the brethren were not very lovable. Whosoever hateth his brother in 15 is a murderer. My how strong can you get? And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

To hate somebody hate is the strongest term that we have in the English language and we use it incorrectly. Hate means to kill. We wish him to die whom we hate. Now it does not matter if we keep our hands from blood for the very desire to do harm as well as the attempt of it is condemned before God.

In Proverbs 23 7 do you remember what it says? For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. So if you don't like what you is change what you think. When we do not ourselves seek to do wrong yet if we wish an evil to happen to our brother from someone else what are we?

Murderers. What a strong strong statement. Well I want to come over to chapter 4 now. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Testing the Spirits and Discernment by the Holy Spirit

Now this was back at the time of John. Do not believe every spirit. Stop believing every spirit. It says to try the spirits. Put to the test to approve or disapprove. Do not believe that every preacher and every teacher is giving you the gospel of God.

Never try to test a spirit by asking the person about their spirit. Why David? They'll tell you what you what they think you want to hear. So Russell how are we going to determine? All right all right all right by their fruit.

Have you ever met a stranger or met a person for the first time who would be a stranger of course and immediately you had the wrong kind of feeling and then you've met others where you've had a very compatible feeling.

How do you explain that Greg? Has to be. So if you are a spiritual godly spirit then it is the Holy Spirit that's dwelling in you that is rebelling at the spirit of the other person or accommodating the spirit of the other person.

We need to learn to develop that. Don't ever ignore it. Follow that good intuition that the Holy Spirit gives you. Another way we can determine the spirit of a person is to just shut up. Quit talking.

Just let them talk. Get them to talk because little by little they will reveal what's in their heart and it is by that that you can tell very quickly. Most of our problem is we like to talk and even when the other person's talking I'm trying to think of something I'm going to say as soon as he lets me and we don't learn much like that.

Always listen but then you have to learn how to listen too. Second, hereby know ye the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come of the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the spirit is not of God.

So if you let them talk, if you are listening to them speak, you can tell very quickly exactly where they're coming from. Beware of church fads and spiritualistic humbuggery. I think that's a good term.

There's a lot of it in many many churches today. You cannot be born again and refuse to believe the virgin birth. It's just impossible. Verse four, ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, past tense, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Who is it that's in the world that is speaking of here? Jesse? Satan? That's right. So he that is in you, and who is that, Joey? The Holy Spirit is a he that is in you, is greater than he that is in the world.

Greater means what, David? He's already won the battle. Greater. Prince of the world, of course, we said was Satan. In Romans 8 and 9, it says this, but ye are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit.

I hope you grasp that. If you were in the flesh, you'd still be a sinner. If you're in the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit, you're not a sinner. And Paul tells us that we are in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his. In 1st Corinthians 619, he says what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?

Now it is my belief, and I've had disagreement, but that's alright. The devil cannot read your mind. I'm talking about your born-again spiritual, recallable spirit, soul, new life, because we are not his.

He can read only that that is his. Therefore, when you pray, don't go over and over and over your problems. You're just giving Satan ammunition. You know the problem. God knows the problem. Spend most of your time thanking him for the solution to it.

Now pray out loud every time you can without enhancing the devil's wardrobe, because we need to hear ourself. You remember he asked Peter, do you love me? Three times he asked him. Joy was the Lord trying to get information from Peter.

He wanted Peter to hear Peter say that, and that's part of the the prophet of prayer and of reading, studying. Read it out loud. Then you won't skip over those words you can't pronounce. In verse 5, they are of the world, speaking about Satan and his seed.

Therefore, speak they of the world, and the world hears them. John 15, 19, if you were of the world, the world would love his own. Notice the pronoun his. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Anytime you find a man of God that is a leader, preacher, teacher, evangelist, and they're very popular in their hometown among the worldly people, be very, very careful about listening to them, as the does not promote that.

Now we come to the sixth verse. We are of God. We belong to God. Charles, he bought us. He paid for us. He redeemed us. David, what does the word redeem mean? So, Russell, if he redeemed us, what does that tell us about us?

Did you hear David? Greg? What? Already belonged to him. So you see how it's true that he had us as his long before there was ever anything. To redeem proves that. We are of God. He that knoweth God, hears us.

He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We know both. In John 17, 14, our Lord is in the garden the few hours before he is arrested, and in that beautiful prayer unto the Heavenly Father, in the 14th verse, he says, I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

So they attract new members by carnal means. The modern-day play-like church, play-like believers, use these carnal means. And what do I mean by that? I mean programs, gimmicks, worthless than beans.

The same pattern that the world uses, the church copies, but it loses. The Baptists are famous for coming up with new programs every year. They have to, because the old one didn't work. So they have to come up with another one, when all we have to do is study the Word.

God Is Love, the Son Sent into the World, and the Meaning of Imputed Righteousness

Verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. Now the world would say, why, we love, but truly it's not the same kind of love.

They are incapable of expressing the godly love. They can't do it. It isn't theirs. They've never had it, never will have it. We are the only ones that can do that, and it has been given to us. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us. Now again, we come to a word. Greg, what's manifested mean? To bring into view, either visibly or written. In this, this refers to what? In this is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Brother David spoke eloquently this morning about the begotten Son.

Tremendous. But I want you to notice one little word here. His only begotten Son into the world. Russell, what's the difference between in and into? All right, all right. Step outside of the Holy Scripture for a moment.

You're in English class. Charlotte, tell me the difference between the word in and into. Means you were outside of it. And every time that you see Scripture, where it's talking about Jesus coming, it's always into the cosmos.

Now, let your mind dwell on that. Means he's outside of it. Outside of space, somewhere else. I don't know where. I think the presence of the Heavenly Father is outside of this creation. Before he created, there was nothing.

There was a whole lot of it, and not even space. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Well, why in the world could we not love God? Brother Alfred, before we were saved, before we knew that we were saved, he's telling us, Joy, that we cannot love God.

Or could not. Why? Well, I know it's impossible. All right. Exactly. Exactly. So the love's not of us, then, is it? It's not our love. The very love we use to love him come from him. Yes. We had a nice discussion this morning about the word impute.

Russell, would you share with all of us again what you shared with me after class? Right. If it's true on one side of the equation, it has to be on the other. The righteousness has been imputed to us.

Impute simply means that it belongs to somebody else, but it has been given to you. You're held responsible for it, and you never really own it, but you treat it as though you do, so you're held responsible.

So if he did not impute righteousness, then it must be that the sins are imputed, and those people are held responsible for that sin, and they'll have to answer for it. We don't. We have the righteousness.

Thank you, Russell. Herein is love, not that we loved him because he had not extended it to us, but that he loved us, and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The satisfying sacrifice.

Beloved, if God so loved us, then we ought to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Take note of that. Perfected.

David, what does that word mean? So his love is perfected or completed in us. Yes, absolutely. No, no way. That's right. Now, he does tell us to love our neighbors, but it's a different word used for love.

Here we're talking about the agape love, the godlike love. In that instance, he's talking about be civil, be courteous, be correct, don't cheat anybody, that type of love. So we treat everybody in a very respectful manner, but we cannot love them like we love each other.

That would be impossible to begin with. So just understand there's two different words. Well, there's more than that, but then that's the two that's used there. All right, no one has seen God at any time.

If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us. So it appears like that, and I would have to think about this more, but his love is made perfect in us. First of all, his perfect love is in us, but then it coming to perfection in us would give us the highest standard possible for a human being, because his love is perfected within us, and it is his love.

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. Why did it not say that he has given us, how could we say it, out of his spirit, instead of giving us of his spirit?

That's right. Again, you see the importance of small words. He did not say, well, I've lost it, gave us of his spirit. He said, he did say, give you us of his spirit. So it is out of, it's not taking a portion away.

There's enough for everyone, and we have our share, as it is intended for each one to have, to function at our place in the body. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Now, here's the word world. Let's be sure we understand. David, does this mean all human.

Beings? No, it doesn't mean that. That's right. But there are people, when you read John 3, seeing where it says he's a God who loves the world, he gave his Son up, and well, that has to be everybody.

Well, it doesn't have to be everybody, because otherwise, in every verse where he saw the word world, it would have to always mean everybody, and it doesn't. When he says the world hates us, it doesn't mean that other Christians hate us.

That's right. So you'd have two worlds. You'd have the world of Satan, you'd have the world of God, as well. That's good. The world of God is the cosmos between the four of us, and the world of Satan is confusion.

It's a lost world. And God knows who these group is. We don't. But he already knows. That's right. So that's when he says, which verse are we on here? First John 4. 14. 14. It says the Savior of the world.

When we get out to the end, when we're even beyond the millennial period, we're going to be in heaven with the Lord. That's God's world.

All right. Another aspect of that is this. The world does, as used here, does mean cosmos. And he is the one that made it. He liked everything he made. And there is a new body coming for the world, cosmos, just as there is one for us.

Always remember this, Russell. Jesus came to redeem not only the people that belong to him, but everything that belongs to the Father, he will redeem. Here he did redeem everything. And that's the trees, the rocks, the stars.

Yes. Yes. So he's the Savior of the world that belongs to God, not the world of Satan. And everything that belongs to God, he redeemed because it was lost. Now the creation or the cosmos was lost, not through any fault of its own, but because of the sin of man, it was put under a curse, and very wisely so.

Do you ever think for a moment what it would have been like for a fallen man to live in a perfect world? Wouldn't have any wheats pulled. He wouldn't have anything to do. So it was, and he tells us, he tells Adam, for thy sake, the world is cursed.

Sorry, we don't put everything out to learn. One of the things I've learned is if you go back to the 17th century, to the 1600s, the huge majority of the Baptist people were offended if someone made the statement that Jesus died for the whole world in the sense that most people are thinking things now, because they wrote about it.

They said that this would mean then that Jesus, you know, that he was the Savior of Satan, and of all angels, and of all of Satan's people. They can see, like when you look at the Pharisees, they said, you're under the father of the devil.

And they said, that's error. It is.

No, but the modern liberalism has forced it to the front. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. The word whosoever does not mean that all people have the potential to be saved.

It does mean that all of his called will confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and we have known and believe the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

He says this we know, and we believe this. God is love proves that he is also wrath. How can it do that, Greg? All right, it says God is love. That statement proves that God is wrath also. Why? That's right.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. In the second chapter of 1 John, the 28th verse, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.

He that feareth is not made perfect in love. The love we have is our present likeness to Christ. We have been brought back to be the part of him again, part of God. Our new nature is as righteous as God, for it is God.

We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I have, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is nothing but a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. He did not say to love our brother if we feel like it. Why do you suppose he had to give us a commandment to love each other?

Seems like that'd just be natural. It's not very easy sometimes, but we certainly do not hate each other, and we love each other the very best we know how, accumulating more knowledge each time we do.

But we have to express it in deed, not just in tongue. It's easy to say it, but when it comes to doing, it's where it shows. Anything left over? All right. I like what Brother Alfred said. It just hadn't been given to us yet, so we couldn't love him first.

It has to come from him. Anything else? Let's stand, and Greg dismisses today, please.

Closing Exhortation and Fellowship Announcements

Morning, please. Let me make this announcement to try to spread the word to folks that they weren't here this, this week. Since we're having our New Year's fellowship here on Friday night, we're going to let that be our, we're going to have prayer together here in that as well, so that'll be our midweek prayer meeting in a Wednesday night.

So it's going to be Friday night, three more times than that, eight o 'clock Friday night, and we will, we will have a time for prayer together. So we're not having a Wednesday night, we're having a Friday night.

You.