Today we are continuing our study in 1 John 3. Thus far John has been presenting us with “tests” we can take that will help us to know whether or not we are true Christians.
1. One of the first tests we find in the passage of John we are looking at today continues with what we were looking at last time…do you love the brethren.
2. The second test we will be looking at today is, “Do you have a spirit of indifference when it comes to doing the will of God, especially when it comes to assisting a bother in need”.
3. The third test has to do with the test of your conscience. In other words, is there this nagging feeling of doubt concerning your salvation?
4. Lastly, we will look at whether your life is marked by answered prayer. In Matthew 7:7-10 Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
If you are an obedient child of God your life will be marked by answered prayer.
Let’s begin at verse 13:
1Jn 3:13 Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you.
This is straight from the words of Jesus. In John 15:17 gives the command to His disciples to “love one another” and then immediately following that, He warns them that the world will hate them because it hated Jesus first.
Notice how John follows this line of thought. In 1 John 3:11 he writes, “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…” and then he writes in verse 13: “Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you.”
Here is the conversation that apparently came to John’s mind as he was writing his text:
Joh 15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
Joh 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My saying, they will also keep yours.
Joh 15:21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
Joh 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Joh 15:23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.
Joh 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which no other did, they would not have had sin. But now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father.
Joh 15:25 But that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, "They hated Me without a cause."
If you are a Christian, you don’t have to do anything for the world to hate you; it’s going to hate you because you represent Jesus whom they hate.
And if you are a Christian and you’ve never felt the tension or the hatred it’s because your light is not shining. Start representing Christ in your workplace, in your neighborhood or even in your home and you will begin to experience what Jesus was talking about.
1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
1Jn 3:15 Everyone hating his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has everlasting life abiding in him.
Here John is leaving us with another test where we can be assured of whether or not we are saved.
According to the book of Ephesians, the unbeliever is “dead in trespasses and sins” (vs. 1) but verse five says, “(even when we were dead in sins) has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved)…”. So John writes in verse 14 that “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”
Last time we saw some characteristics of Christians who “love one another”:
* They stay together and agree together
* They pray one for another
* They one another's burdens
* They suffer long with and forgive one another
* They admonish or warn when a brother or sister is drifting toward sin
* They encourage each other in how to stay clear of sin
* They build up each other in faith and holiness…
* When one is suffering they all suffer and when one is honored they all rejoice
But as we have already seen in our message last time that the one who hates his brother is a murderer and John writes at the end of verse 15, “And you know that no murderer has everlasting life abiding in him.”
Here’s another test in verse 16-17:
1Jn 3:16 By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
John is letting us know how to tell the difference between the children of God and children of the devil. We have seen thus far that the children of the devil have murderous, hate-filled hearts…he tells us you can’t be saved and at the same time hate the brethren. Children of God love the brethren. They may start off as haters but when they repent of their sin, they are forgiven and their new nature in Christ moves them to “love one another.”
Here beginning at verse 16 John introduces us to another characteristic of the children of the devil: indifference. You see, Jesus wasn’t indifferent to us. How do we know this? John writes at the beginning of verse 16, “By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us.”
The song writer wrote:
Oh, how He loves you and me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more could He give;
Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
Another wrote,
When Jesus hung on Calvary, people came from miles to see;
They said, “If you be the Christ, come down and save your life”.
But Jesus, sweet Jesus, never answered them,
For He knew that Satan was tempting Him.
If He had come down from the cross, my soul would still be lost
Chorus
He would not come down from the cross just to save Himself;
He decided to die just to save me.
When it came to doing the will of his Father, there was no indifference with Jesus!
When it came to sacrificing His life to save us, there was no indifference with Jesus!
So John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes in verse 16, “By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us.” And then he finishes off the verse writing, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
But tragically, we can’t even get ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning for prayer and talk about, “laying down our lives for the brethren”? John is telling us that “indifference” is a characteristic of children of the devil, not sons and daughters of the living God!
Children of the devil “gladly receive” but they do not gladly give but children of God, both gladly receive and give. We find this characteristic in the infant church in Acts 2:
Act 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls.
Act 2:42 And they were continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship and in the breaking of the loaves, and in prayers.
Act 2:43 And fear came on every soul. And many wonders and miracles took place through the apostles.
Act 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things common.
Act 2:45 And they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
Act 2:46 And continuing with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they shared food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
Act 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Perhaps John was thinking about this when he penned verses 17-18:
1Jn 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?
This is another evidence of the indifference of those who are not saved. Now here is where someone might accuse me of being judgmental. But before you do that, remember who wrote the Book. Remember the context…we are being helped by the Spirit of God to tell the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil.
Let’s define some terms in verse 17. John writes, “Whoever has this world's goods,” that is to say he has material wealth, and “sees his brother in need and recognizes that he can meet that need,”
And if he “shuts up his bowels” meaning, “he closes his heart, his inner parts closes down his compassion,” The word “bowels” (KJV) is splanchna. It is your “guts”, like in the statement, “my gut feeling.”
John is presenting us with another test. He is saying in verse 17 that if this person, “shuts off his compassion”…shuts off his feelings…if that's his habit, the love of God is not in him.
It doesn't matter what he claims about himself; he might claim to be a religious person, he might claim to be a sympathetic or compassionate person, but if he sees his brother or sister in need, and doesn’t not help them when it’s within his means to help, he's not a child of God.
The story is told of a Christian rice farmer who saved an entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm he felt a rising earthquake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the old shore line, like some prodigious animal crouching back for a leap. He knew that the leap would be a tidal wave.
In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low fields that would soon be flooded. He knew that he must somehow find a way to get all of them to run quickly to his hilltop! Otherwise they would be swept away by the tidal wave. His rice barns were dry as tinder. So, with a torch he set fire to his own barns and soon the fire alarms started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed to help him. Then, from their safe perch they saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left. In a flash they knew not only who had saved them but what their salvation had cost the rice farmer.
He had willingly surrendered his entire farm to the flames so that his fellow men and women would be rescued. They later erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, "He gave us all he had, and gave gladly."
This is an example of the “love of God” that dwells in the heart of the believer. It is un unselfish love. It is a sacrificial love. It is a love that “esteems another as more important than yourself” (Philippians 2:3). It is a love that is not “concerned only about your own interests, but also about the interests of others” (vs. 4).
John says in verse 17 of our text, “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?”
The Bible is telling us that love for your brother or sister is demonstrated when you see them in need and open your heart toward them to meet that need.
Now here is another application…if meeting your brother or sister’s physical needs are important, how much more should we be concerned with meeting the needs of someone who is spiritually bankrupt and destitute?
I read a story of a man that got saved as a young adult. He was so excited about Christ for the first couple of weeks, he told everybody the difference Jesus had made in his life.
One Sunday night he was at his church and they sang this song, "Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, weep over the erring one, bring them to Jesus, tell the poor sinner that Jesus can save." He heard that song and he got so excited that as soon as the service was over he rushed up to the pastor, and said, "Pastor, I'm ready."
The pastor said, "Ready for what?"
He said, "Man, I'm ready to go rescue the perishing--let's do it!"
The pastor looked at him and said, "Well, that's not something we really do, that's just a song we sing."
It wounded that man's spirit for many years until he realized that the normal Christian life is to be excited about rescuing the perishing.
Again John says in verse 17 of our text, “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?”
We can easily paraphrase this verse to say, “But if anyone has been redeemed from their sins and has experienced the joy of salvation and knows his friend, neighbor or coworker is lost in his or her sins and on their way to Hell, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?”
* How can you, as a Christian, hear the call to tell your lost family members about Jesus each week and yet close your heart to them?
* How can you hear the encouragement to pick up and hand out some outreach cards and tracts and leave the church each week without doing so?
* How can you go from week-to-week and not invite anyone to church so they can hear the Good News about Jesus Christ?
How does the love of God abide in you when you neglect the privilege and responsibility that God’s Word has laid upon you as a follower of Jesus Christ?
1 John 3:18 says, “My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.”
Let’s continue on to 1 John 3:19 which says, “And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him…”
John is saying that when you open your heart to meet a need, not only will the people around you know that you are a Christian by your love, but your own heart will be assured that you are a Christian…who is of the truth” (vs. 19)
Have you ever done something and after you did it you knew that it was the Spirit of God who gave you the power and desire to do it?
Perhaps it was doing some act of kindness for someone who didn’t deserve it. Or, maybe it was that time you gave out of your poverty…you didn’t have the money, you couldn’t afford to do it, but you gave assistance to someone who had a legitimate need. That feeling of assurance that came over you…whispering into your spirit, “I’m a child of God!”…that is what John is talking about in verse 19.
Remember, John is talking about assurance…how we can truly know that we are children of God. When we selflessly love someone by meeting their needs, our hearts are assured before God. In other words, God does something in our hearts that lets us know that He is pleased with our service and assures us that we belong to Him.
But then there are the times when our heart accuses us. There is the doubt that attacks and plagues our hearts, making us wonder whether or not we are children of God. There is that insecurity we feel about our relationship with God, especially at those times when we are struggling with sin.
But the Bible teaches here in the 1st letter of John and in other places that God wants us to know and be assured that we have eternal life. 1 John 3:20 says, “if our heart accuses us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”
This is why Paul writes in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Several years ago, one of the astronauts who walked on the moon was being interviewed. And he was asked, "What did you think about as you stood on the moon and looked back at earth?” And the astronaut replied, "I remembered how the spacecraft that got me here was built by the lowest bidder."
Now, I want you to know that your salvation was not given by the lowest bidder. It was performed as an infinite act of God. It comes from the holy God Himself, the awesome, sovereign God.
Five major factors may cause believers to doubt:
* You may not have received an adequate explanation of what it means to follow Jesus when you first believed.
* You may have neglected prayer, Bible study, and worship.
* You may have allowed sin, disobedience, or a failure to share your faith to cloud your relationship with Jesus.
* You may have inadequate or erroneous understanding about God, your daily Christian life, or the eternal security of the believer in Jesus Christ.
* You may be experiencing physical or emotional difficulties which are causing you to doubt your salvation.
Salvation is a one-time event. Sanctification is a lifelong process of daily, moment-by-moment, learning the Word of God and obediently applying it in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit.
God starts our salvation and keeps it going. This is why it is called, “eternal life.”
According to the Apostle Peter, it is the power of God that secures the believer eternally:
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in Heaven for you
1 Peter 1:5 by the power of God, having been kept through faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Jude 24 says, “Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence…”
Not only is it God’s power that saves and keeps the believer, it is God’s record of faithfulness that validates our salvation:
Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Rom 8:34 Who is he condemning? It is Christ who has died, but rather also who is raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep of slaughter."
Rom 8:37 But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In John 6 Jesus says:
Joh 6:37 Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me,
Joh 6:38 because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Joh 6:39 And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day.
Later in John chapter 10 Jesus says this:
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Joh 10:28 And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.
In Ephesians 4:30 Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption.”
The ancient seal was a stamp or engraving set in stone, metal or some hard substance like crystal. It was usually a symbol or a figure that was used to make an impression on clay or wax, or some other soft substance.
It was usually attached to an object like a possession or a document, in order to give it authenticity, ownership or authority. It was used often in the ancient world, especially in Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria and surrounding nations including Israel.
The signet makes a deep impression in clay forming an official seal. The imprinted seal carries the full authority of the office it represents and no one dare question it. His design is well known, his symbol without any doubt authentic, his mark indelibly declares the full authority of royal ownership. There is the pain of death to those who violate it.
The seal or signet of a leader or authority contains the leader's name, title and domain. For example, the seal of the President of the United States says, "Barak Obama, President of the United States of America." Caesar's seal would say, "Caesar Augustus, Emperor of the Roman Empire." If God had a seal or signet, it would bear the inscription, "Jehovah, God of Heaven and Earth".
The believer’s salvation is sealed by none other than God Himself who granted it. God gave it and no one can take it away.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, we have confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22 And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Here John is telling us in these last few verses of chapter three the results of putting into practice the righteous deeds he communicated throughout this chapter.
* If we have a hope in Christ and His return and keep ourselves pure, as He is pure (vs 3)
* If we do not practice sin (vss. 6, 7, 9)
* If we love one another (vs. 11, 14)
* If we are willing to lay down our lives for the brethren (vs. 16)
* If we show compassion to our brothers and sisters in need (17-18)
If we practice righteousness, our hearts won’t accuse us but we will have confidence or assurance in the presence of God. And not only that, we won’t be afraid to ask Him for anything because (vs. 22) we obey His commandments and do what pleases Him.
One of the obstacles to answered prayer is “no prayer.” Many of us do not ask God for anything because we do not believe that He will answer our prayers.
The reason we don’t think He will answer our prayers is because our conscience is condemning us because of how we live.
It’s like the teenager who was given a list of chores to do and has yet to do them but then they hear their friends are talking about going to a concert. They need some money to go to the concert but they are afraid to ask mom or dad because they know that they haven’t even started on their chores.
Some of us don’t ask God for hardly anything because we do not believe that He will answer our prayers. The reason we don’t think He will answer our prayers is because our conscience is condemning us because of how we live.
But John writes, “Dear friends, if our conscience doesn't condemn us, we can boldly look to God and receive from him anything we ask. We receive it because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.”
Last Sunday I ended my message with a story on how the day before a man came downstairs into my office. He came and asked for money to help purchase his wife’s prescription medication. He only needed $6. I had money on me, which rarely is the case. But I only had two $20 bills and a couple of $1 bills. In faith I gave him one of the $20s.
What I didn’t tell you was that during the greeting time, before I even preached that message, someone slipped something into my pocket and I didn’t check to see what it was until I had returned to my office after the service. When I reached into my pocket I found a $20 bill. The person who gave it to me didn’t even know of my experience the day before and told me that she felt the Lord compelling her to give it to me before the service.
John writes, “We receive from Him anything we ask. We receive it because we obey His commandments and do what pleases Him.”
God answers prayer but He does so conditionally. He loves us without reservation but answered prayer is on the basis of how we live.
John summarizes his thoughts in verse 23-24. We will close with this:
1Jn 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he who keeps His commandment dwells in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He gave to us.
Pastor John MacArthur writes in his Study Bible that these two verses repeat the 3 features of the apostle’s epistle—believing, loving and obeying—which are the major evidences of true salvation.
The true believer is the person who believes the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection; loves the brethren and obeys the Word of God. Are you a true believer?
