Part of the chapter that I wanted to focus on was there at verse 9 where the Bible says,
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness,
and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
And the title of the sermon tonight is, He that loveth his brother.
Now before I kind of talk about what that means, I feel like the book of 1st John, you know,
has a lot of deep doctrine, has a lot of ideas, and has a lot of strong language.
And a lot of people like to kind of twist the book of 1st John.
There's a lot of different views of what the book of 1st John is talking about.
Is it talking about salvation? Is it talking about, you know, living a godly life?
What is it that this chapter, what is this book even talking about?
And so I wanted to look at just a couple more places in 1st John before we kind of look at this verse.
But look at chapter 3, and look down at verse 4.
The Bible says, Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law.
For sin is the transgression of the law, and ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins,
and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not.
Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Now the Bible's making a really strong declaration here.
It's saying anybody that's abiding in Christ is not sinning.
And it says whosoever does sin has never seen him and never known him.
Now the modern Bible versions, they can't understand these verses, so they try to help the Bible out a little bit.
Because you know in the first chapter the Bible says,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
So the Bible makes it clear we're not going to ever be perfect.
We're never going to be sinless, we're never going to be without sin.
So to understand this verse, the modern Bible versions, they just twist these verses.
They just change them to mean something completely different.
Like the NIV I'll read for you, it says, there in verse 4, it says,
Everyone who sins breaks the law, in fact sin is lawlessness,
but you know that he appears so that he might take away our sins, and in him is no sin.
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.
No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
So there in the modern versions they say, well, if you just don't keep on sinning,
if you're not continuing to sin, and in the ESV it kind of says the same thing,
but in verse 6 it says, No one who bides in him keeps on sinning.
No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
So they completely changed the meaning.
I mean, the King James Bible makes it pretty clear that there is no sin.
And it says anybody that does sin hasn't seen him.
But they kind of try to twist this, make it a little different.
Let's look at one other place, because 1 John says these kind of statements quite often.
Look at verse 9, it says, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin,
for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
So again, King James Bible is saying the same thing.
He's not going to be able to sin because he's been born of God.
Well, what is the NIV, what is the ESV, what do they say there?
Well, in verse 9 it says, No one who is born of God will continue to sin.
Because God's seed remains in them, they cannot go on sinning because they have been born of God.
The ESV says, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.
For God's seed abides in them, they cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
Now, the reason why I like to show those verses is because you say,
well, does anybody really believe that? Does anybody actually think that that's real
or use these verses to support their doctrine?
Well, when I grew up, I grew up in a non-denominational church,
and I heard a lot of sermons on practicing sin.
Now, they weren't talking in the context of living a wicked life and being backslidden.
They were talking in the context of salvation.
They were saying, there's a big difference between someone who sins and someone who practices sin.
And they have this weird doctrine where you're kind of wondering,
well, am I in the category of the guy that practices sin?
Or am I in the category of the guy that just sins a little bit?
You know, it's such a gray area.
I mean, you're like, this is such a big deal.
I mean, it's heaven, it's hell, it's where I'm going to spend eternity.
Where is this line?
I mean, it seems really important if you really believe that.
But I got an article, and it's from this guy named John Piper.
Now, he's actually pretty well known.
He pastored a church called Bethlehem Baptist Church.
So he claims to be a Baptist.
Now, he's not an independent fundamental Baptist, but he claims to be a Baptist.
And, you know, this guy, I didn't think he had this big of a following,
but I found him on Twitter, and it says he has 875,000 followers on Twitter.
So, I mean, this guy's got quite a few people that pay attention to what he says.
And even on YouTube, he said that he had 128,000 subscribers to his ministry.
And his ministry is called DesiringGod.org.
That site is like one of the top sites, like Christian sites in all the world.
I mean, it's one of the most major sites that's visited.
It's way up there.
I mean, it's more popular than Catholic.org.
It's more popular than Catholic.com.
It's more popular than Hillsong.
I mean, these are big name websites, big name churches.
So, this guy has a pretty big following.
And so, he wrote this article on his DesiringGod website.
It says, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning.
Now, he's going right for these verses.
And I think they all tie together.
That's why, you know, I'm kind of putting them together here to build a foundation.
But he says to start off this article, I'll read you a little bit.
He says, how do you balance the danger of losing assurance of salvation
and the danger of being presumptuous that you are born again when you may not be?
So, he kind of begs the question of, if there really is this difference between practicing sin and sinning,
how do you really know that you're like this guy that's, you know, on the fence
and he thinks he's saved but he's practicing sin?
Or maybe you are saved but you sinned and you still have your assurance of salvation.
How do you know?
So, he's going to give us some advice how we can know.
He says, how can we enjoy the assurance of being born again
and yet not take lightly the sinfulness of our lives that is so out of step with being born again?
So, he points to 1 John chapter 5 verse 13.
So, look at that verse.
And I'll read the verse that he put in here.
It's a modern Bible version where he says,
I'll write these things in you who believe in the name of the Son of God
that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
So, it's a little different but it's basically saying the same thing.
It's saying, look, if you believe the things you just wrote, you can know you have eternal life.
Well, this is his comment.
He said, this book is written.
He said, this book is written, he says, to help believers have the full assurance that they have been born again.
So, it takes this one verse and says the whole book of verse, John, is about being born again.
It's about salvation, like all the verses are talking about salvation.
Now, if you believe that, you're going to have some problems with some of the verses.
Because in the King James it's clearly said, if you commit any sin, you know, you've never known Christ,
you don't know him, you know, the person who's been born of God does not commit sin.
I mean, if the whole book is about salvation, then we're going to be in trouble.
But I don't believe that and I'll go back but I want to read a little more of this article before I answer that question.
But you can't just go to one verse necessarily always and say this is what the book is saying unless it says that.
Now, it said these things, but we'll kind of answer that when we come back to it.
He said, God wants you to experience something in this letter that makes you profoundly confident that you pass from death unto life.
So, he's making it very clear, he's thinking this whole thing is talking about salvation.
So, he has one section in there called Christian Doing Confirms Being.
And he says, John, talking about the author of the letter,
in fact, insists that spiritual being must be validated by physical doing.
So, he's saying, if you want to be born of God, if you want to prove that you're born of God,
it has to be validated by doing works, by doing good things, by living a good life.
He says, or else the spiritual being is simply not real.
He says, look, if you're not doing good works, then you didn't really get saved.
You know, the thing about John Piper is he is a five-point Calvinist and he believes very firmly in all of Calvinism.
He tries to reconcile the Bible. He's a big compromiser as far as what the word says.
But he believes that, you know, the Calvinists, they say, oh, I believe in eternal security.
But the thing is, they look at somebody that's living a wicked life and they say, well, that person just never really believed them.
That person never really had faith because if they did, they wouldn't be living this wicked life.
And so, they might say, well, it's not works that save you, but works prove that you're saved, works validate that you're saved.
That's what he's trying to say in this article.
I'll read for you just a little bit more.
He says, talking about false prophets, this is what they say, according to him.
He says, you can be righteous and not yet practice righteousness.
He says, the only people who are righteous are the ones who practice righteousness, is what 1 John was saying.
He says, doing confirms being. This is what John says over and over in this letter.
And he says in 1 John 2 29, if you know that he's righteous, you may be sure everyone who practices righteous has been born of him.
Now, of course, the Bible is saying that if we're righteous, we would do righteous things, we would do good things.
But is it really saying that unless you're doing righteous things, that you're not saved?
I mean, that's a pretty high standard. He says, this is how, he really explains this,
in other words, the doing of righteousness is the evidence and confirmation of being born again.
So, in order to be assured that you're born again, according to his words, you have to be righteous.
Now, being righteous, the Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one.
So it sounds like we're all going to hell. I mean, according to him, if it's the evidence of being saved,
I mean, he makes so many contradictions, because you can't look at the book of 1 John and say,
this whole book is just all about salvation. You're going to have a hard time understanding the book of 1 John.
He says in 1 John 3 9, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning,
for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
So he kind of quotes what the ESV says.
It says the practice of sin is the evidence and confirmation that one is not born of God.
So he's saying, look, if you're practicing sin, you're not born again.
Now, that just begs the question, what does it mean to practice sin?
Because the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin.
And if I was really honest with myself, I would say I probably have a foolish thought at least every day.
I mean, if that's not practicing it, then I mean, I don't know what it is.
I mean, if you really look at the Bible with a magnifying glass and you try to look at all your life
and all the sin that's there, I may be really hard pressed to say that I don't practice sin.
I mean, so that makes me really nervous. Does that mean I'm not saved?
Because doing confirms being, according to him.
He says not practicing sin is the evidence and confirmation of being born again.
So if you were just super righteous, I mean, you could just know that you were saved.
And you know, Calvinism just lends itself to the prideful.
It just lends itself to the arrogant, to the people that think they're so great.
The Bible talks about people coming to Jesus and says they were willing to justify themselves.
He uses that phrase. That's what I think of the Calvinists.
You know, I think of the Pharisees. I mean, if you want a modern day Pharisee, it's John Piper.
It's Calvinists because they're willing to justify it.
They literally think they're righteous enough to prove that they're saved.
I mean, if you pay attention to what he's saying, he's saying he thinks he's saved.
Well, that means he doesn't practice sin. I mean, this guy is really up there.
I mean, he is living the righteous life. He's being righteous.
He says there's a problem because the false teachers think they can separate who they are spiritually from who they are physically.
And that's really where the problem lies.
He tries to look at it from carnal eyes as opposed to looking at the Bible as a spiritual book, as being born again of the Spirit, is what the Bible says.
So let's go back to our actual text that we're looking at.
Look at 1 John chapter 3, 6. It says,
Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not.
So now, how can these things be true?
How can it be true that you're not going to sin and that what the Bible is trying to say, if you abide in him, that you're not going to sin?
What is the Bible really saying here if it's not, you know, this practicing sin and these false doctrines that these Calvinists are trying to teach?
Well, I remind you of Galatians 5 where the Bible says,
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
When you're walking in the Spirit of God because you've been saved, you can't sin, according to the Bible.
You're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh when you're walking in the Spirit,
when you're doing the things that God's told you to do, when you're abiding with him.
So it's very true when you look at 1 John, it says,
If you're abiding in Christ, you're not going to sin.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
The Bible says, you know, how could our flesh ever be what becomes righteous?
Because that's what they're pointing to. They're pointing to the works of the law, they're pointing to the deeds of their flesh.
The Bible says in Proverbs 20, who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure for my sin.
Our flesh can never be without sin. It's corrupt.
But in 2 Corinthians 5, in verse 16, the Bible says,
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh,
yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new,
and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Now here he said, behold, all things are become new.
Now all things, I mean, that means all things.
When you were born of God, all things become new, and you have a new spirit.
The Bible says he quickens your spirit.
Now that new spirit cannot sin.
It's going to abide with Christ, and if you walk in the Spirit, if you walk in the Spirit of God,
you can't sin when you're walking in the Spirit, and you're not fulfilling the lusts of your flesh.
Now your flesh is going to still sin, according to the Bible.
Let's look at a few more verses to really kind of confirm this thought.
Let's look at Romans chapter 7, turn to Romans chapter 7.
But what does it mean for all things to become new?
I mean, the Bible says in John chapter 10,
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
So when you believe on Jesus Christ, and you become born again, is what the Bible says,
he gives you eternal life.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4,
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed on the day of Remedition.
When you believe on Jesus Christ, he gives you eternal life.
You're sealed with the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says in John chapter 1 verse 12,
But as many as received him, to them came he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name.
You become a child of God.
That's what it means to be born again.
So you've given eternal life, you've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, you become a child of God.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2,
And you have be quickened, who are dead in trespasses and sins.
The Bible says he quickens your spirit.
So your spirit's been quickened, and it says in 1 Peter 1,
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
So what does it mean when all things are new?
It's talking about the new spiritual life.
Your eternal life, being sealed with the Holy Spirit, becoming a child of God, being quickened, being born again.
A lot of things happen when someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just one thing, the Bible talks about a lot of things happening there.
And the Bible says you become a new man.
Look there in Romans chapter 7 verse 14,
For we know the law is spiritual, but I incarnal, soul, and are sin.
For that which I do I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that do I.
If then I do, that which I would not.
I can sin under the law, that it is good.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
For to will is present with me, but to how to reform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not.
But the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Now I think when Peter was talking about some hard things to be understood by Paul,
maybe it was this like verse he was trying to say real fast,
because it's kind of funny how it's worded,
but the Bible's making it very clear that it's not you that's sinning,
the new man that's been born again, it's your flesh.
It's your flesh that's sinning.
So it's not talking about when in 1 John it was talking about someone that would sin,
it's talking about someone that's in the flesh.
Because the new spirit, the new birth, it can't sin, because it's been born of God.
Let's look at one other place to kind of help us close this off.
Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4.
I'll read a little bit more from Romans 7.
It says, I find that a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
So the Bible's saying, look, when you're delighting in God's law,
you're delighting in the inward man.
So when you're doing that which is spiritual, you're walking in the spirit.
You're not fulfilling lust of the flesh, which would be sinning.
You're fulfilling the spirit man.
You're desiring God's law.
In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 21, the Bible says,
If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus,
that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man's truth with his neighbor,
for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath,
neither give place to the devil.
So it's saying, look, there was the old man, there's the flesh,
but we should put him off. We shouldn't try to live the same way we did.
We should put on the new man, which is after God and follows after righteousness.
It was created in righteousness.
So the Bible's talking about when you've been born again,
you can't commit sin in the inward man.
It's not talking about your old flesh.
Your old flesh is still going to have with you.
That's why in verse John it says,
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
But the Bible's making very clear that there is a spiritual aspect of being saved,
and then the physical aspect, we just stop sin.
And so if I continue to sin, it's no longer I that do it,
but sin that dwells in me, is what the Bible says.
So it helps us give a little better understanding of what 1 John is saying.
It kind of reminds me of when Nicodemus was talking to Jesus Christ.
And Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Marvell not that I said unto thee, he must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and now hears the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Now, if you looked at John Piper's article, he's saying,
Look, these false teachers, they're teaching that there's a difference between the spiritual and the physical.
Well, I guess according to him, Jesus Christ is a false teacher,
because he was making it clear to Nicodemus,
Look, you're not being born again of a woman.
You're not going back, you know, to your mother.
You're going to be born again of the Spirit,
and there's going to be a spiritual birth.
You're going to be born of God through the Spirit,
and that new birth, there's no sin,
because it's been born of God.
So that's what the Bible's talking about in 1 John,
giving all this strong language about,
You're not going to sin because you've been born of God,
and he that abideth in me sinneth not.
Talking about walking in that Spirit,
walking in the new man, walking in the new life that God's given you.
And how could you say practice the sinning?
That's not even a biblical doctrine at all,
because the Bible says in James chapter 2,
it says he had to be offended one point.
He's guilty of all.
I mean, even if you just committed one little sin,
the Bible says you're a transgressor of the law,
and you have to be punished in hell.
It says all lives and other part in the language of birth, fire, and brimstone.
So, I mean, man, if practicing sin is going to send me to hell,
I'm going to go.
But by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I can be born again.
And if I walk in the Spirit,
I'm not going to sin, according to the Bible.
That's what 1 John's really talking about.
So let's go back to 1 John.
So what is the book of 1 John really about?
Like, what's the main purpose of 1 John?
Is it really about salvation according to John Piper? No.
Now, I do believe 1 John chapter 5 verse 13 is kind of talking about salvation.
In the immediate context, it is.
But let's look at 1 John chapter 1.
1 John chapter 1 verse 3.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,
that ye may also have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And these things write me unto you, that your joy may be full.
So notice that verse 4.
And these things write me unto you.
What is he saying? He's saying in the immediate context.
What he's about to say.
So, actually, in the book of John, four times,
it uses that wording of these things have I written unto you.
He's trying to give you,
hey, this is why I'm writing this piece of this letter.
Because this is the important part.
And he's saying, look, it's fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
And I think that's the better explanation of what 1 John's really talking about.
It's talking about having fellowship with God.
Having fellowship with Jesus Christ.
But we'll look at some more verses.
Look at 1 John 2.
Look at verse 4.
It says, He saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments as a liar,
and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.
Hereby know we, that we are in him.
So 1 John's talking about having fellowship with God.
But again, it's also talking about having your love of God perfected.
Having a perfect love towards God.
You know, not having a partial love, but having your love of God perfected.
And how we can do that, how we can accomplish that.
Look at 1 John 2, 28.
Skip down a few verses.
It says, 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.
If ye know that he is righteous,
ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.
So the Bible's saying, look, you can have fellowship with God.
You can have your love of God perfected.
And not only that, then you can have confidence.
I mean, if you have fellowship with God,
if you have your love of God perfected,
isn't that just going to give you a lot more confidence in your daily life?
More confidence in going out soul winning?
More confidence in your Bible reading?
More confidence in your daily life?
I mean, I think about my family members.
You know, if I was going to try and get one of my family members saved,
I think that's one of the hardest things, is talking to somebody that you really know.
You know, when you go out, and you knock doors,
and you talk to strangers, and you start getting them saved,
and you're having a lot of success,
that'll help give you more confidence to maybe win a loved one.
Or maybe win a family member.
Or maybe give you, you know, the ability to know,
hey, I've already encountered a lot of these conversations,
a lot of these things, and with my family,
I might not get as many opportunities as I would like.
So I want to be really confident that I know how to answer every man,
according to, you know, what the Bible says.
I'm going to have that confidence.
So, when you have fellowship with God,
when you're having your love of God perfected,
it's just going to give you more confidence in your Christian life.
It's just going to really help you.
Look at 1 John chapter 3, look at verse 20.
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart,
and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not,
then have a confidence toward God,
and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him,
because we keep His commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Look, if you're following all of God's commandments,
and you're doing the things that He said He really likes,
isn't that just going to give you more confidence?
And He's saying, look, even in your prayer life,
one of the best ways to have confidence,
I mean, wouldn't you love to have the confidence to know,
whatever I ask God, He's going to give me?
I mean, think about Solomon.
Solomon, God, like, literally came and spoke with him,
and said, look, just ask whatever you want,
and I'll give it to you.
I mean, that's, he had a lot of confidence,
like, wow, this is great.
And the Bible says that if we have, you know,
we're doing what He said,
and we're not asking to consume it upon our lust,
He will grant our desires.
He will give us what we want.
He'll give us the desires of our heart if we'll ask.
So if we're following His commandments,
and we're doing what He said,
we can have confidence when we pray.
Wouldn't that be great to just know,
man, when I'm praying, it's going to be answered.
God's going to fulfill my request,
because I'm doing what He's saying.
I mean, just think about a child and his parents.
When the parents, you know, have their child,
then give him a bunch of chores,
and he does them all great.
And then he comes,
he has a lot more confidence to ask for that,
you know, allowance,
or for the car for the weekend,
or whatever it is.
But, you know, what if he didn't do any of the chores?
And he just shows up, and he's like,
yeah, I didn't do what he said,
and, you know, I didn't really care,
and I haven't really been doing anything great.
I've just been playing video games and sleeping.
But, can you give me that couple hundred bucks?
The parents are like, what do you know?
Go do the chores that I told you to do.
The same thing is with God.
I mean, daily life is so many times,
it's so symbolic of how our Father in Heaven is with us.
You know, I mean, He wants us to do what He said.
And 1 John is giving us a lot of commandments.
It's telling us a lot of things to do,
and that'll help give us confidence toward God when we pray.
Let's look at another place.
Look at chapter 4, verse 11.
It says, Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another.
No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwells in us,
and His love is perfected in us.
So look, if we're loving, you know, one another,
and we're loving God,
we can have our love perfected.
Again, He's saying again,
having that confidence, having perfect love,
look at verse 17.
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.
So He's wanting to give us the perfect love
so we can have boldness,
so we can have confidence.
What's the purpose of having fellowship with God?
To have confidence, to have boldness,
to have your love of God perfected?
Look at verse 20.
If a man say, I love God,
and hated his brother, he is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
So it's also gonna help instruct us how to love God.
I mean, if you have a brother in Christ,
and you can't even just love him,
who you can see and touch and feel and talk to,
how could you love God, who, I mean,
the Bible's saying, look, you can't love,
you can't hate your brother.
You can't just hate the people that are here
in flesh and blood and think that you're loving God.
So 1 John's gonna tell us how to have that fellowship.
It's gonna tell us how, you know, to have that confidence.
And let's look at 1 John chapter 1.
I think this kind of sums up these points,
but it says, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God, and every one that loveth him that begat
loveth him also that is begotten of him.
By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous.
So what is 1 John really talking about?
I mean, it's talking about fellowship with God,
talking about having perfect love,
and it mentions over and over, loving your brother
is one of those ways.
You can't be loving God and hating your brother
at the same time.
That's an impossibility.
And he says, you know, we know that we love him
that begat, when we love him that is begotten of him.
What is that verse saying?
It's saying, look, you know you love God
when you love the sons of God,
when you love those that have been begotten of God.
And the Bible's saying, look,
we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God.
If you're loving God, you're loving your brother.
If you're not loving your brother,
you're not loving God according to the Bible.
Amen.
Let's look at verse 16 and 1 John.
So what's the point of this?
I mean, why do we have fellowship?
Why do we have the confidence?
Why do we have the boldness?
Why are we supposed to love our brother?
Look at verse 16, it says,
if any man see his brother sin of sin,
which is not unto death,
he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them
that sin not unto death.
There is a sin unto death.
I did not say he shall pray for it.
So when you have fellowship with God,
when you're abiding with Christ,
when you're walking in the Spirit,
when you have that confidence,
when you have that boldness,
when you have love for the brethren,
and you see your brother stumble,
you see your brother in a fault,
you can pray for him and know that God will help him.
God will give him life.
And it says, as long as it's not a sin unto death.
And I think the best way to understand what that verse is saying is just
there's a lot of sins in the Bible that have the punishment of death.
And so I think it's basically saying,
as long as this guy is not committing adultery and murdering or whatever,
if you see him in a fault, pray for him.
And God will give him life.
God will restore that person.
And how great would it be that if you had a fault
and somebody else just prayed for you and you got restored?
I mean, just think of you stumbled and your brother was like,
I have good fellowship with Christ.
I'll ask him and he'll just take care of that fault for you.
I mean, how many people in the Bible stumbled and had faults and had struggles?
How great would it be for you to even be able to,
one, pray for your brother and saw him restored?
Saw some way that there was some kind of sin in him
and you were able to pray for him.
That's what the Bible is talking about, loving your brother.
Go to Galatians chapter 6.
And we have to be careful that we are following his commandments.
Because the Bible says in Proverbs 28, verse 9,
And he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer shall be an abomination.
So God wants us to be following his commandments.
And if we're following his commandments, he'll give us what we ask.
But if we're not following his commandments,
the Bible says he's not going to be gracious under that.
If you just decide, hey, I don't want to follow your commandments,
but I'm still going to ask you for stuff,
that even becomes a sin.
I mean, he's like, don't even ask me.
I don't even want to hear you ask me something.
Think about it.
Your parents say, hey, do all these chores.
Don't ask me for money until they're done.
I mean, that's basically what God's saying.
He's saying, look, if you want something from me,
you've got to be following my commandments.
You've got to be trying to live a righteous life.
Look at Galatians 6, verse 1.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness,
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Christ wants us to bear one another's burdens.
He wants you to see your brother taking a fault,
and if you're spiritual, you pray for him.
Here's what the Bible's saying.
You know, John Piper can't pray for anybody
because he's just thinking it's all in the flesh.
I mean, these Calvinists, they're just so lazy,
and they can't love their brother
because they look at their brother that's sinning
and they say, well, you're just not saved.
But when we see a brother in a fault,
when we see a brother that's sinning,
we're supposed to pray for him and try to restore him.
Now, obviously, I mean, if you see somebody living a wicked life
and they're never coming to church,
I mean, you might ask him if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just make sure that they're saved, but if they are,
if you know the person's saved,
then just pray for him to get back in church.
Pray for him to follow God.
Pray for him to, you know, and you say,
well, I really want this person to get back in church.
Then you start following God's commandments
and you start loving one another
and then God will hear your prayer.
I mean, you want God to hear your prayer,
you can work for that.
You can follow his commandments.
You can do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter 18.
So the Bible says,
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light.
It's talking about, look,
if you want to be abiding with Christ,
because Christ is the true light,
is what the Bible says,
if you want to be abiding with Christ,
if you want to have fellowship with God,
you have to be loving your brother.
I mean, you can't be hating your brother in Christ
and be loving God.
It's impossible.
So if you have hatred in your heart
or you're despising somebody in your heart
that's a brother in Christ,
you're not loving God.
You're not fulfilling the law of Christ.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 18 verse 1.
It came to pass when he made an end of speaking unto Saul,
that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David.
And Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
And Saul took him that day and would let him go,
no more home to his father's house.
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant
because he loved him as his own soul.
And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him
and gave it to David and his garments,
even to his sword and his bow and his girdle.
And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him,
and behaved himself wisely.
And Saul set him over the men of war,
and he's accepted in the sight of all the people
and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
Now to give you a little back story,
I think David is probably one of the best examples
of a Christian loving his brother.
Of loving, you know, no matter what happens.
Because is it hard to love your brother in Christ
when he's being nice to you?
When he's, you know, he's your friend
and he's giving you money
and you're just having this great fellowship?
I mean, is that really hard to just love your brother?
But what about when he's doing something wrong?
I mean, think about Jonathan here.
Jonathan was supposed to be the next king.
He was supposed to become on the throne.
And, you know, they could tell that Saul,
that the Lord had departed from Saul.
And he told them, look, your kids aren't going to become the king.
And he meets David and David kills Goliath.
And now David's going to be the one that's going to be the king.
And so think about you as you're about to inherit the kingdom,
you're going to be this great king,
and now someone's going to take that from you.
Now someone else is going to come into the throne.
But guess what? Jonathan just still loved David so much
that he stripped himself of his own robe.
He stripped me and he gave the garments to David and said,
look, I just love you so much, I want you to succeed.
I want you to be the king.
I know that's God's will
and I'm just going to love you no matter what.
I mean, that's a lot of love
to look at someone taking your position,
taking the things that, you know, would be naturally yours
and just being a blessing to that person.
And we see all the way through David's life
that Jonathan's a great blessing on David.
But look down at verse seven,
we're going to see what happens with Saul.
It says,
And the women answered one another as they played and said,
Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.
And Saul was very raw, and the saying displeased him.
And he said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands,
and unto me they have ascribed but thousands.
And what can he have more but the kingdom?
And Saul eyed David from that day forward.
And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul
and he prophesied in the midst of the house.
And David played with his hand as at other times.
And there was a javelin in Saul's hand.
And Saul cast the javelin, for he said,
I will smite David even to the wall with it.
And David avoided out of his presence twice.
And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him
and was departed from Saul.
So you see, Saul's starting to have a lot of hatred towards David.
Saul started to despise David.
He wants to literally get a javelin and pin him to the wall.
I mean, that's not loving your brother in Christ.
I mean, maybe you had that thought when they did something really mean to you at first,
but that's not loving your brother.
And it says, he that hated his brother is a murderer.
And you know that no eternal life abiding in him.
I mean, he says that he that hated his brother abideth in death,
is what 1 John says.
Now when Saul's hating his brother,
he's starting not to abide in Christ but abiding in death.
But David, we're going to see that he has love towards his brother in the whole life.
And he's abiding with Christ.
Go down to verse 29.
It says, and Saul yet was more afraid of David,
and Saul became David's enemy continually.
So, it's interesting that the Bible makes it very clear that even though
two people can love the Lord Jesus Christ,
they can be brothers in Christ, they could be enemies.
And you know, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 5,
turn there if you would, Matthew chapter 5,
I mean, how many of you have heard, you know, we're supposed to love our enemies?
I mean, most everybody's heard Jesus Christ say you gotta love your enemies.
Well, what does that really mean?
Does that mean you have to just love everybody?
And you know, that's what a lot of people try to describe that to mean.
But the Bible helps us give that definition.
It said that Saul and David were enemies.
And in Matthew 5, verse 43, the Bible says,
You have heard that it had been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, love your enemies.
Bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father which is in heaven.
For you may give this unto rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?
Do not even the publicans the same?
Look, what does the Bible say?
He's saying it's easy to love someone that loves you back.
It's easy to love someone that's nice to you.
It's easy to love someone that's your friend.
It's easy to love somebody that wants to do good unto you.
But what about somebody that wants to throw a javelin through your body and hang you on the wall?
I mean, is it easy to love that person?
Is it easy to love the person that would take some position away from you?
But it says there in verse 43, it says,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
The Bible does not teach in the Old Testament that they were supposed to hate their enemies.
And we see David in his life, he did not hate Saul.
He did not hate his enemy, according to the Bible.
In Deuteronomy chapter 10, it says,
Love ye therefore the stranger, for you are strangers in the land of Egypt.
The Bible said to love your neighbor as yourself.
It also said to love the stranger.
And in Leviticus 19 17, it said, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart.
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.
The Bible made it very clear that you're never allowed to hate your brother.
So if you're not allowed to hate your brother,
meaning you know your brother is in Christ or meeting your family,
then Christ is what the Bible is saying in the spiritual aspect.
And Saul is his enemy.
What does the Bible say? Is it saying for him to hate him?
No, it's saying for him to love him.
You're supposed to never hate your brother for any reason.
Let's go back to 1 Samuel. I don't know if I told you to keep your finger there.
We're going to keep looking at David.
1 Samuel 19 verse 1, the Bible says,
And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants,
that they should kill David.
So is Saul at this point loving David?
No, I mean, he's made it pretty clear. He's trying to throw a javelin through him.
He's become his enemy.
He's even telling his servants, look, we need to kill this guy.
We need to kill David.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 23, flip over a couple chapters.
We find out through this whole book that Saul's constantly trying to kill David.
And David even has to escape for his life.
And now David's escaped, but Saul's like, you know what?
We just need to even chase after him.
So Saul just gets all of his men and he starts trying to hunt David down.
And look at chapter 23 verse 25.
Saul and his men went to seek him, meaning they're seeking for David.
And they told David wherefore he came down into a rock and a bolt in the wilderness of Mahon.
And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Mahon.
And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain.
And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his men compassed David,
and his men round about to take him.
The Bible says, He that hated his brother abideth in darkness,
and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
You want to talk about a real example of that?
Saul's trying to find David, and he's walking on the mountain. He can't find him.
But he's on the mountain. I mean, they're just walking in this circle.
You know, Saul's trying to find David, and David's walking.
He just can't find him. And we see over and over, he has all these men,
he has all these troops, and they're just trying to hunt David down.
And if you understand how big Israel is, it's not that big of a place.
I mean, they've got him narrowed down to this little mountain, and they just can't find him.
And when you're in this sin of hatred towards your brother, you're just going to walk in darkness.
You're just going to cause all kinds of sin in your life.
And you're not even going to know where you're going.
You're going to just abide in death. The Bible says you're not going to be abiding with Christ
if you have any hatred towards your brother.
I don't care what you're doing in your life, if you hate your brother in your heart,
you're not right with God. And you're going to be walking towards darkness,
and the Bible says you're going to be blinded.
You're not even going to realize what you're doing,
that you're causing all these problems, that you're walking towards death and destruction.
It's very important that we have love towards all our brothers and sisters in Christ,
that we would never store hatred in our heart.
And the Bible said you should be angry, but sin not,
and let not the sun go down on your wrath, is what the Bible says.
So even if your brother were to cause some grievous sin unto you or to harm you,
yeah, you could get angry in the moment.
I mean, it's not that we're human.
I mean, we're going to have emotions. God gets angry.
But the Bible says, look, don't sin by retaliating or giving wound for wound
or striking him back or doing whatever.
But then don't even let your wrath go down, you know, with the sun.
I mean, just forgive your brother in your heart.
Just decide, you know what, even though he committed this grievous sin,
he's still my brother, and as much as Jesus Christ could forgive me,
guess what? I should be able to forgive this guy.
I mean, think about the parable when Jesus Christ was talking about the guy
had 500 talents versus the 50 talents, and he said,
which one had loved more is the one that forgave the bigger death.
So if Jesus Christ can forgive you of the biggest death ever,
can't you just forgive your brother in Christ?
I mean, can you really ever sin against your brother in war
than you sinned against God? No.
So that's why we need to have love and compassion and forgiveness
for our brothers in Christ.
And David, I'm not going to look at all the verses.
We don't have time.
And constantly Saul was delivered into David's hand.
We see that Saul even came into a cave and David was there.
And he would not do any harm unto Saul.
He still loved him even though he's trying to kill him.
Even though, you know, he's taking everything away from him,
he's seeking him. I mean, this is taking years.
I mean, this guy's trying to flee every day.
This guy's just trying to kill him. He's throwing the Java at him twice.
But he still loves him.
And that's the perfect example, I think, of any human.
Obviously, Jesus Christ loved the whole world.
I mean, Jesus Christ loved Judas Iscariot at some point,
the guy that betrayed him.
And we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So what is the point of this, you know,
he that loveth his brother?
Well, I think, most importantly, we shouldn't get confused
and think this is talking about salvation.
That was kind of the first point I was talking about.
1 John, yeah, it has a few verses that will mention salvation,
kind of some context.
But the overall theme is not about salvation.
It's about having fellowship with God.
It's about having a perfected love.
And, you know, you don't have to love your brother in Christ to be saved.
It's not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and love everybody to be saved.
It's just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if you want to have a perfect love towards God,
if you want to have fellowship with God,
if you want to be in right standing with God, you've got to love your brother.
You're not going to be abiding with Christ.
You're not going to, you know, Jesus said,
I knock at the door and if any man hear my voice
and I come unto him, I'll sup with him.
Jesus Christ wants to abide with you.
He wants to have dinner with you.
But you've got to let him in.
And the only way you're going to let him in is if you love your brother.
The second point was that the whole point of it was
fellowship and having a perfect love.
1 John is mostly talking about having that great fellowship with God.
And he gives a couple examples of salvation
to give you a warning like these people aren't saved.
And you should be warned, you should be, you know,
not have fellowship with these type of people,
the anti-Christ, you know, the people that hate God.
But you should love your brother in Christ because they believe on Jesus Christ.
He's giving you a definition of what your brother is
by telling you these people that believe on Christ, they're born of God.
So that's how you can know who you should love.
Who should you love?
Those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And the Bible, in 1 John, is giving you some examples of that.
But thirdly, that if you're abiding in Christ,
you're going to be loving your brother, even in the hard times.
I mean, what does it mean to love somebody?
Think about the ultimate love, Jesus Christ's sacrifice.
Did he love us when we were perfect?
No. While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us is what the Bible says.
I mean, think about it.
Think about your children just disobeying everything you've ever done
and just being completely rebellious.
And you just decide, you know what?
I'm just going to do good unto you because I just love you.
That's what love means.
I mean, the people outside this world that don't have the love of Christ,
they can't really love.
They just kind of return affections.
So if you say, I like you, they're like, I like you.
It's like a playground.
You know, the little kids are like, I like you, I like you.
And they're like, I don't like you. Oh, I don't like you too.
I mean, it's kind of like they're repeating back and forth.
But you know, as a Christian, we shouldn't be like that.
And we should be gentle unto all men.
I mean, we should really be loving even the stranger.
But more importantly, we should always love our brother in Christ, no matter what.
Obviously, there's some examples in the Bible where there's people that we wouldn't love.
And David, again, is the perfect example.
You want to know why he's the perfect example?
Because he loved his enemy, Saul,
but he also had the enemies of the Lord that he said he hated.
In Psalm 139, I mean, the Bible makes it very clear that he says,
I hate them with perfect hatred, what the Bible says.
But in Ephesians chapter 5, and if y'all would turn to Psalms 119, we'll finish on that verse.
In Ephesians 5, verse 18, the Bible says,
And be not drunk with wine, where in its excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
The thing is, you can't be filled with alcohol and be filled with the Spirit of God.
Those things are opposites.
If you're filled with alcohol, the Spirit of God leaves and departs.
If you're filled with the Spirit, it's because there's no alcohol in you.
And so when the Bible's saying, he that loveth his brother abideth in him,
look, if you want to abide in Christ, you have to be loving your brother.
And if you're not loving your brother, it's going to depart from you.
You're not going to be abiding with Christ.
You're not going to be walking in the Spirit, is what the Bible says.
Look at Psalm 119, 105.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
So if you want to be abiding in the light, if you want to be abiding in Christ,
if you want to know where to go, you're going to get to his word.
Because this is Jesus Christ. You want to be abiding in this word,
you're going to be loving your brother.
And you know, there's so many verses in this Bible that are talking about loving your brother,
it's going to be hard to be abiding in here and not be like,
man, I need to be loving my brother. I need to be forgiving my brother.
It says, But whoso hath this world's good,
and seen this brother have need, and shut up of his bowels and compassion from him,
how twelfth the love of God in him?
The Bible's saying, look, if you saw your brother in need,
and you had a way to help him out, and you didn't,
how could you say that you love God?
Is what the Bible's saying.
So how many times in the Bible, and you want to know where to go,
this book will tell you.
This is a light unto your feet.
But when you hate your brother, the Bible says you're going to be walking in darkness.
And you're not going to be knowing where you're going.
Do you want to be walking in the light?
You want to know where to go?
You got to love your brother.
Not in just the fun times, not just when he's loving you back,
but in all times.
When you see him taken into fault, pray for him.
Try to restore him.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this chapter.
Thank you for our word.
And thank you for all our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I pray that anybody in this room, that we would just,
if we had any kind of disdain or hatred for our brothers and sisters in Christ,
that we would just remember the forgiveness that you've given us.
That we would just not let the sun go down on our wrath.
That we would always love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
That we could always be mindful of what you'd have us do
so that we could abide in your light.
That we could abide in your word.
And we could have confidence towards you.
We could have boldness.
And we could have a perfected love.
We'd have fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.