(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse 20 where the Bible reads, If a man say, I love God, and hateth 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? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. And the title of my sermon tonight is, Loving the Children of God. Loving the children of God. And that's what's talked about here when it talks about loving your brother whom you have seen, your brother or sister in Christ. I'm going to prove that to you from the Bible tonight. Now let me start out by saying this. This sermon is kind of a strong meat sermon because I'm really going to go into some tough passages in the book of 1 John. I'm going to spend about 90% of the sermon in the book of 1 John, which has some difficult things in it. And you're really going to need to pay attention tonight and really put on your thinking cap. Don't just kind of zone out or half listen tonight. You really need to use your brain tonight and really think about what the Bible is saying because we're going to look at some deep scriptures tonight and some strong meat of the word. So I'm just telling you that going into it so that you'll pay close attention to what the Bible is saying. Now let's start out right here in verse number 20. The Bible says, If a man say, I love God, and hateth 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? Now where some people would get this wrong is that they will equate loving God with being saved. Now here's the thing. There's a difference between loving God and being saved. See those who are saved may or may not love God. And they may or may not love God to varying degrees. And those who are saved may or may not love the children of God. Look the reason I'm preaching tonight on loving the children of God is because this is not something that every Christian automatically does. And that's the false teaching that's out there is that, hey, if you're saved, you're automatically going to love all your brothers and sisters in Christ. That just really isn't true. The Bible says that it's a commandment that we have from him. Look at verse 21. This commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. God wouldn't have to command us to do something that's automatic. But the teaching that's out there that's false is that, hey, if you're saved, you love all your brothers and sisters in Christ. And if you don't, well, that means you're not saved. No, this is actually something that even a saved person might have to work at. We would have to work at loving the Lord and work at loving the children of God. You say, well, prove that from the Bible. Okay. Well, let's just start with verse 20 itself. The Bible says, if a man say, I love God and hated his brother, he is a liar. Now stop and think about this. How could I hate my brother if I'm not even saved, then they wouldn't be my brother. Just stop and think about that with some common sense. If we're talking about a brother hating a brother, you have to be a brother in the first place. Now, there was a guy, there's a false teacher out there that really pushes like a workspace salvation. It's a thinly veiled workspace salvation under the guise of repent of your sins and make Jesus the Lord of your life. And this guy has been pushing this for decades, his name is David Cloud. And he just wrote a whole book about yours truly. And the name of the book is called, like, what about Steven Anderson. And it's funny because he said that I turned 1 John 4.20 on its head is what he said. And he said the reason I turned it on its head is because I said that your brother there is your brother or sister in Christ. He said it means your physical brother or your relative or like if you're a Jew, your fellow Jew or whatever, that's your brother and after the flesh. That's what he tried to say this means because he's one of these that believes, hey, if you don't go to church, you're not saved. If you're not living for the Lord, you're not saved. If you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're not saved. If you're not following God's commandments and living a clean life, you're not saved. Look, that's just false, my friend. The one thing you have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And the Bible specifically addresses the issue of someone who believes but doesn't do the works. It says, but to him that worketh not, Romans 4.5, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, salvation without works. Him that worketh not but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness. The Bible talks about the fact in 1 Corinthians 3 that there are people whose whole life, everything they do is wood, hay, and stubble in the eyes of the Lord. And on the judgment seat of Christ, it's going to be burned up, yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. So in 1 Corinthians 3, it's clear. It says he'll lose a reward, he'll suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved because salvation is by faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now to sit there and say, well, this is your physical brother, you don't have to take my word for it that this is talking about your brother in Christ. Let's just look at the passage and see who's turning it on its head. And what you have to understand is that these chapter divisions, these chapter divisions are not just like these hard and fast walls. God often continues the same thought into the next chapter. Very often. In fact, the original didn't even have chapters. The chapters only came about much later. So look what it says in 1 John 4.20. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. But let's keep reading. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. Now stop and think about that. And again, we've got to pay close attention here. It says everyone that loveth him that begat. Who is it that begat us? When the Bible says we're born of God, who begat us? God. God begat us, we're born of God, right? So it says whosoever believeth that Jesus the Christ is born of God, born again, born of God. And then it says everyone that loveth him that begat, who's that? God. Loveth him also that is begotten of him. Who are they? The children of God. Everybody who's born of God, that's born again, the children of God. And then look in verse 2, he makes it even clearer. He says by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandment. So here's what the Bible's teaching in these four verses. If you start reading in 1 John 4-20 and read through 1 John 5-2, it's the same thought. And what God's getting at in these four verses back to back is really clear. Loving God and loving the children of God go hand in hand. Meaning that a person who doesn't love their brothers and sisters in Christ also doesn't love God. And a person who does love God also loves their brothers and sisters in Christ. And a person who loves their brothers and sisters in Christ also loves God. It's the same type of person. It's one commandment. We love him that begat and we love him that is begotten of him. And then it's defined in the next verse, just in case there's any doubt about what that means, him that is begotten of him, somebody might say, oh, that's Jesus. No, no. Because it's explained in the next verse that that's the children of God, it's those that are saved. The Bible says that he has begotten us again unto a lively hope. We've been begotten of the Lord if we're saved. We're born of God. So the Bible's really clear here that in order for us to love God, we also have to love the children of God. And that's what the Bible's clearly teaching in verse 20 of chapter 4. But what you have to understand is, again, like I said, it's talking about someone hating their brother. You'd have to be saved to hate your brother in Christ because otherwise you wouldn't be your brother anymore. If you're unsaved, then you don't have a brother in this sense of a spiritual brother, the brotherhood of being children of God. I think it's pretty clear. As long as you don't just stop reading in verse 21, even then I think it's clear. But when you get into chapter 5, all doubt is removed. Now what does that mean when we're supposed to love the children of God? Well, it means just what it says, that we actually love people that are saved. And I can tell you right now, obviously the Bible is our final authority and we base everything we believe on the Bible. But I'm just going to tell you that in my personal experience, which obviously my personal experience is not authoritative. The Bible is the only authority. But I'm just going to give you a little additional evidence from my personal experience. I know people that I have zero doubt that are saved. I don't doubt their salvation for one second. People that I've known personally and talked with and spent time with who hate my guts. Everything they say and do just makes it clear that they hate me. And I'm a child of God. So that right there, just from a human standpoint, proves that there are saved people who don't necessarily love all the children of God because I'm a child of God and they hate me. They hate me without a cause. They hate me the same reason they hated Jesus because he testified of the world that the works thereof were evil. They hate me because of the hard preaching. But that's not a legitimate reason for them to hate this child of God. Now even when a child of God commits sin and does wrong and is in error and is doing wrong things, we're still supposed to love the children of God even when they're in error. Even when they do wrong. Obviously none of us is perfect. We all do wrong. We should love the children of God. And those who don't love the children of God don't love God, the Bible says. It doesn't mean they're not saved. It just means that they don't love God. And look, if love for God and love for the children of God were automatic, it wouldn't be a commandment. God doesn't command us to make sure we keep breathing and keep our heart beating. Those things are automatic. He doesn't command us to stay saved. It's automatic. So look at verse 16. Here's an example of what we could do. One of the things we could do to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and this goes to show that this is even for when people do wrong things. We still love them. It says, and even when they wrong us. The Bible says in 1 John 5 verse 16, if any man see his brother's sin, a 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 do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there's a sin not unto death. So the Bible is talking about here seeing your brother, not your physical brother, David Cloud, but actually your brother in Christ, if you see your brother sin a sin which is not unto death, the Bible says he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. What does that mean? That means if we see a fellow believer, our fellow Christian fall into sin, committing sin, we're not to just hate on that person, condemn that person. We are to actually pray that God will go easy on that person. We're to intercede for that person like Moses did when the children of Israel went into sin, pray that God will do good unto them and be merciful unto them, and pray that they'll get back on the right path and get back on the right track and continue to love that person even in their error. That's what the Bible says that we should do. Now this theme of loving the children of God is not something that's just brought up at the end of chapter 4 and into chapter 5. It's actually something that's brought up throughout the book of 1 John. In fact, it is the biggest theme in the entire book of 1 John. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 just hammer this idea of loving the children of God, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even if they do wrong unto us, we're to love them anyway. The Bible says love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Even sometimes when the children of God make themselves an enemy unto us or an enmity with us, we are to still love and pray for that person. Now before I go any further, and I told you we're going to go into some deep doctrine tonight because I really want to explain these things from 1 John. In 1 John 5 verse 17, it says, all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death. Because he talked about the difference between someone who commits a sin unto death versus the sin that is not unto death. He says, look, if they've committed the sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. There's a time when God says that people are too far gone, they do things that are too wicked where the Bible says don't even pray for these people. That's what it said in Jeremiah 6, pray not for these people. Jeremiah chapter 7, pray not for these people. And even in the New Testament, that's the Old Testament angry God. Even in the New Testament it says, there is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. Now there are different people who have different opinions about what this sin unto death is. It's not really something that is maybe super clear in the Bible, so people could have different opinions about what they believe that this means. What this could mean is if they commit a sin that would be punished in the Bible by the death penalty. These kind of extreme sins like murder, rape, adultery, things of that nature. Some kind of extreme sin like that where obviously you're not going to say, hey God, go easy on this guy when he's committing murder, adultery, rape. That's one view. I'm not saying that that's necessarily for sure the right interpretation, I'm just saying that's possibly what he's referring to. Other people say, hey, it's talking about the unpardonable sin. I don't buy into that, I don't subscribe to that because I think we're talking about stuff that believers would do or that believers could do in this passage. But anyway, that's not what the sermon is about, I'm just kind of throwing that out there. But the Bible says in verse 18, it says, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not. There are many statements like this in the book of 1 John that if taken out of context could really lead to some serious false doctrine. Like the teaching that says, well, if you're saved, you never sin or you don't sin, meaning that if you see someone sin or that if you sin that it means you're not saved. Just to make sure that we understand this from the beginning, go to 1 John 1. Let's get the context within the exact book that we're in. 1 John 1 starts out by making it clear that no one is without sin. That's not what that means, and I'm going to explain what it means and show you from the Bible what that means. But the Bible makes it clear right away in 1 John 1. Verse number 8 says this, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. He lays that down in chapter 1 so that you'll be prepared to read chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5. It's always best to start in chapter 1 and to get that foundation. So he says right away, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now I think both of those statements, the truth is not in us and his word is not in us, I think they're both getting at the same thing, that you're not saved. If you don't have the truth in you, if you don't have the word in you, those are both Jesus is the word. Jesus is the truth. How can you have the Spirit of Christ in you if the Bible says his word is not in us? That's actually making God a liar, which in 1 John chapter 5, making God a liar is used right there with not believing in Christ. There's he that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God had made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son. And there are many other scriptures throughout the Bible we could turn to, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. So when the Bible here says in 1 John 5.18, if you want to look at it again, when the Bible says here, we know that whosoever is born of God, sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. This is something that the book of 1 John talks a lot about, the fact that basically the one who's born of God does not sin. Now what does that mean? Here's the thing, when you get saved, when you get born again, the part of you that is born of God is only your spirit, not the flesh, not your body. See when you get saved, your body doesn't change. Whatever bad things there were about your body before you got saved, they're still there. Whatever sicknesses and ailments, when you get saved, your body doesn't change. It's the soul that's regenerated. And we're still waiting, according to Romans chapter 8, and if you would flip over to Romans chapter 7, but according to Romans chapter 8, we're still waiting for the redemption of our body. Now we sing the song, Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, but that's the redemption of our soul, the redemption of our spirit. Our body has not yet been redeemed. Our flesh has not been redeemed. That's not going to happen until that first resurrection, or what's commonly known as the rapture, when we're changed in a moment of twinkle of an eye. That's when God will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. We are in the flesh right now, and in our flesh, the Bible says, dwelleth no good thing, and the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would, meaning the things that you want to do, meaning that you want to love God, you want to serve God, you want to do great works for God, but what do you find? That the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Even Jesus' disciples struggled with that, where their spirit was willing, but their flesh was weak. Even the greatest Christian of the New Testament, who pinned down half of the books of the New Testament, the apostle Paul struggled every day, he said, I die daily, and in Romans 7, he records his struggle with the flesh. But here's the thing, when the Bible says that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, that's only talking about the new man, the inward man, the spiritual man. That is not talking about the flesh. Look, when it comes to our flesh, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. I mean, we have to continually, continually resist temptation, daily deny self and take up the cross and follow him. That's not a one-time thing that happens in salvation. Now look at Romans 7, verse 14. The Bible says, and this is spoken by probably the greatest Christian who ever lived, right? I mean, the guy who said under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, I labored more abundantly than they all. He worked more than James, more than John, more than Peter, more than the rest of them. He was the greatest apostle. It's ironic since he was the one that was the last one that came after, you know, Jesus earthly ministry and so forth. He labored more abundantly. He was a great man of God. And I mean, this is a guy who didn't even get married because he was just dedicated to serving the Lord full-time. I mean, this guy was working hard. I mean, he was persecuted, he was beaten, he was in prison. He started churches all over Asia Minor, all over Europe. I mean, this is the man who half the New Testament's about, the apostle Paul. And what does he say? He says, for we know that the law is spiritual, verse 14, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, would, and just to help you with the older language, would means you want to. So when he says what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. What is it that he hates? He hates sin. He hates sin. He loves God, but he finds himself doing things that he hates when he commits sin. He says what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, meaning if I do the things that I don't want to do, I consent under the law that it is good, now then, and this is the key, watch this carefully, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, you know, you may choke on this doctrine, but that's what the Bible says. He said, you know, it's no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. What he's saying is that's not the real me. That flesh someday, thank God, is going to die. And the real me is going to heaven, the inward man, the new man, the new creature in Christ that doesn't sin, that loves the Lord. He says, for I know, verse 18, for I know that in me, and then he clarifies, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find that. Look, this is the story of most Christians' lives. To will is present with me, I want to win souls, I want to get the sin out of my life, I want to read my Bible, I want to pray, I want to be a great man of God, I want to be a great woman of God, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. You know, it's the performance of it that's hard. I mean, anybody who's saved deep down desires to do good things and desires to get the sin out of their life, but here's the thing, the flesh is there warring against them, and how to perform that which is good, they find not. He said in verse 19, for the good that I would, the good stuff that I want to do, 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, he says it again, second time, but sin that dwelleth in me. So that's how it can be said, hey, whosoever is born of God doesn't commit sin because that's talking about the new man, that's talking about the inward man, not the flesh, okay. For I delight in the law of God, verse 22, after the inward man, the spirit, the soul, but I see another law in my members, members means body parts. Warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Look he said in my mind I'm doing all these great things for God, but then it's like my flesh just keeps leading me, you know, the flesh wants to be lazy. The mind, the soul, the inside wants to go soul winning, the inward man, but the flesh says no, stay home, relax, take it easy, you know, or even just the new man wants to actually go get a job, you know, for those that aren't even to that point yet, you know, but the new man says get a job, the old man says no, just, you know, mooch off other people. The new man says go to church, and the old man says no, no, no, just do the YouTube, the live stream, you know, just stay home, right? It's a battle, the new man says I'll set no wicked thing before mine eyes. The old man wants to look at every billboard, and every scantily cad young lady that walks down the street, and there's a battle, there's a struggle going on, and preachers who get up and act like there's no struggle and just act like, well, if you were really saved, you know, you'd just do all this stuff. They're liars, and then what they're doing is they're making people feel like there's something wrong with them just for being a normal person, like there's something wrong with me, maybe I'm not saved, and then people are like I don't know what to do, I keep trying. It's like these bunch of Mormons who are constantly committing suicide, you know, Utah has the highest suicide, Mormon young people are constantly committing suicide because they just keep trying to repent of their sin and trying to do the works, and they're going through struggles, and they're not even saved, so they don't even have the new man, they don't even have the inward man, but they're being told to do all these rules and stuff, and it's just their flesh wants to do everything that's wicked, and then they end up just killing themselves because they just can't live up to that or whatever. Now look, I'm not making excuses for sin, hey, we need to die to self, we need to mortify the flesh, we need to deny self and take up the cross daily and follow Christ, we need to put on the new man, we need to put off the old man, but you know what, you need somebody to tell you that so that you'll know that there's even a battle so that you can even fight that battle, instead of just oh, there's no battle, if you're fighting that battle there's something wrong with you, you're just not even saved, it's like what, what? The Apostle Paul fought that battle, it's crystal clear, it's a clear scripture in Romans 7. Let's go back to 1 John with that in mind. Understanding the fact that in 1 John chapter 1 he makes it clear anybody who says they don't sin is a liar, anybody who says they've not sinned, anybody who says that they're even presently without sin is deceiving themselves, you know why it says they're deceiving themselves? They're certainly not deceiving anyone else. You think the people around them believe that they're perfect? It's only they that think that they're perfect. So now with that in mind, it makes sense when we read 1 John chapter 3 for example, look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 4, 1 John chapter 3 verse 4, because the passages that people really get hung up on, especially this passage in 1 John 3 and then that verse I showed you over in chapter 5, it says in verse 4, whosoever committeth sin transgresses 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. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 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 this is where people would take this and say, hey, if you're born of God, you cannot sin. But what it's actually talking about is the new man that's actually born of God. Remember the spirit and the soul are what is born again, the body is not. We're still waiting for the redemption of our body. We still have that sinful flesh. That's why Paul couldn't wait to be delivered from the body of this death, you know, this body. Look, isn't it going to be great when we get to heaven and we never sin again? Because the only thing that allows us to sin and that makes us sin is our flesh. Now it doesn't give us an excuse because it's our job to die to self, mortify the flesh, put on the new man, walk in the spirit, walk in newness of life. It doesn't give us an excuse, but there's a struggle there and isn't it great that one day when we get to heaven, there's not going to be a struggle anymore. The flesh is going to be gone and we're going to get to heaven and we're going to just be the new man only. It's going to be great to just have finally achieved the full victory over sin once we get to heaven, once the flesh is out of the picture. So when it says, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. You see, if you get the context here, he says in verse 5, in him is no sin. So in Christ, in the Lord, in God, there's no sin, right? And if we're begotten of God, what did the Bible say in this exact chapter, 1 John 3, go back to the beginning. Let me turn there myself. I'm off that page. In 1 John 3, verse number 2, it says, beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Now, is the Bible saying, hey, we're just like him right now? No, he's not saying we're just like him right now. Just like him, in him is no sin, in us is no sin. We're just like him. No, no, when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him. Because at that appearing, that's where our flesh and our body is changed and where our body will be saved, the redemption of our body, Romans chapter 8. So he has no sin. The part of us that's born of God is like him. It's begotten of him. Just like he doesn't sin, that part of us can't sin and doesn't sin because that's the part of us that's born of God. The inward man, the new man, and this is not something that's just dealt with in a few chapters. It's talked about in Ephesians, it's talked about in Galatians, it's talked about in Romans. This is a theme throughout the New Testament. So it says in 1 John 3.10, and this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil, whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. And here's where we get back to the theme of the sermon, neither he that loveth not his brother. And I started out the sermon proving that it's possible to not love your brother, just like it's possible to sin if you're saved. How? In the flesh. So just as it's possible for us to sin if we're walking in the flesh, it's possible for us to hate our brother or sister in Christ if we're in the flesh. And just as when we walk in the spirit we won't sin, and if we walk in the spirit we'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh, when we walk in the spirit we will love the children of God. We will love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at verse 11. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not ask Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. See it's possible for a Christian, a born again child of God, if they're walking in the flesh, if they're not putting on the new man, to hate their brother in Christ, to hate their sister in Christ. And I'll tell you the reason why they're probably going to hate their brother or sister in Christ is because their own works are evil and their brother's righteous. Because they get envious or they see someone doing great things for God and instead of having a right attitude that glorifies God because of the works that are being done, they get like Cain. See the Bible says don't be like Cain who was of that wicked one. Even a saved person, they're not Cain, but they can act like Cain if they get that attitude. And that's why the Bible says, well marvel not my brother and if the world hates you. I mean it shouldn't shock us if the world hates us, but it's pretty bad when brothers and sisters in Christ will hate us. Because their own works are evil and their brother's righteous. Because they're walking in the flesh, because they're backslidden, because they're not filled with the spirit, they get that attitude. And listen, this is a barometer for you on whether you're walking in the spirit or not. Do you love the children of God? Do you love God? Because if you don't love God and you don't love the children of God, that means you're walking in the flesh. It doesn't mean you're not saved. If you've believed on Christ, if you put your faith and trust in Him, you're saved. But you're not walking with Him. You know, you're not in the spirit, you're not putting on the new man if you have bitterness and hatred toward the children of God. We should love God and we should love the children of God. And you know, I've heard so many cute teachings like, well you don't have to like them but you love them. You know what, that kind of sounds like somebody who doesn't really love them. You know what I'm saying? It's almost like they're excusing the way they feel in their heart which is disgust toward their brother and sister in Christ. So they're like, well I love them on paper but I just don't like them. You know, to me that just seems like you're kind of playing games and word games possibly. I mean what if I said, well the Bible says to love my wife but it doesn't say I have to like her. I mean how is she going to feel? She's going to feel real loved, right? Well I don't like her but I love her because the Bible said I have to. You know, love is supposed to come from the heart. It's supposed to be unfeigned love of the brethren. We're supposed to have real genuine love and caring and we want the best for people. And we want God to bless them. We want them to do right and we want them to live right and we want them to be blessed and to be happy and for good things to happen to them. And you know, well you don't have to like them but love them. You know, that's kind of a weird attitude in my opinion. Okay. You know, love means, we all should know what love means. Just take it for face value and just love God. I mean I like God. I like Him. I like His style. I like the Bible. I like everything about Him. It's great. Great book, great God, great everything. Great Savior. Our great Savior, right? It's a great song. So we need to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know, when they do wrong, when they do wrong unto us, we pray for them, we intercede for them, we forgive them, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us, right? That's what the Bible teaches. It says, we know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So again, this is a verse where people would take it, no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. And then they'll try to say that anybody who commits murder isn't saved. Well look, there were people in the Bible who committed murder and they were still saved. Obviously that's a horrible sin. But David obviously comes to mind, Moses comes to mind, other people come to mind. And David, you know, he committed adultery, he committed murder, I mean he did some pretty wicked stuff. He was still saved. He said restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He didn't say restore my salvation because he hadn't lost it. He said restore to me the joy of thy salvation, meaning he had salvation, but what did he lose? The joy. And he was severely punished and chastised. And if you as a Christian live in sin, you're going to be severely punished and chastised. If you commit a big sin like murder, you're going to get a big punishment. You commit a little sin, you're going to get a little punishment. But if you're saved, to whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Every person who is saved will be punished for their sins. So look, you say, well I don't believe a saved person would ever commit murder. But it's out there where it does happen. And obviously God's going to really severely punish that. But there are examples of it in the Bible, multiple examples of it in the Bible. And we could even see examples of it. There are a lot of different sins that people commit that are heinous and that are really bad like adultery and murder. But yet it is possible for even the Christian to commit those sins. And that's why let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. And adultery is every bit as bad as murder. In some ways it's worse than murder. I mean in some ways it can be more harmful, it can be more hurtful. Adultery and murder are both punished with the same punishment. In fact, I'll take it a step further. Adultery is punished with the worst punishment. You know why? Because if you actually look up the Old Testament law, hey if people commit adultery, they're put to death period. It's just a death penalty every time for adultery. Both the adulterer and the adulteress are both put to death. His blood shall be upon them. Their blood shall be upon them. There's no exception. Whereas with murder, there's all these exceptions. Because in the Old Testament, if somebody commits murder in the heat of the moment, they don't get the death penalty. The murderers in the Bible who get the death penalty is when they're committing first degree murder, as we would know in our criminal justice system. Only a premeditated murderer is put to death in the Bible. If somebody gets angry and kills someone on the spot because of anger, that is not punished by the death penalty. Now it's a severe crime. It's a wicked sin. I'm not condoning of it, but it is not as bad as the premeditated. Now what did David commit? Premeditated murder with Uriah, right? What did Moses commit? Did Moses commit premeditated murder? No, Moses committed a crime of passion. He sees one guy smiting the Hebrew, he looks this way, looks that way, and kills the guy with his bare hand in the heat of the moment. That's not premeditated murder necessarily. Some people could argue that and go to some courtroom and argue that and present the evidence for Moses, but the bottom line is that that concept is biblical, that we have in our criminal justice system that differentiates between first degree murder and second degree murder. Look, adultery is worse than second degree murder because adultery is punishable by death every time. Second degree murder is punishable by exile and first degree murder only is punishable by death. So don't downplay adultery. It's actually likened unto murder and could even in some situations be worse than murder depending on the situation involving the murder. And yet there are saved people who commit ... I mean, are you going to tell me that no saved person has ever committed adultery? You know what? God has to warn us to beware of that and to guard against that because it is possible for people to commit that horrific sin. God forbid that we would commit that. Now again, you say, well, love for the brethren is automatic and if you hate your brother, you're not saved. Okay, but look what the Bible says in verse 16. You're by perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That's not saying we're always going to be willing to do that. It's saying that we ought to. We should, meaning that it's not automatic. Look at verse 17. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. The Bible is crystal clear here that if we don't love our brother, we don't love God because he said if you see your brother have need and shut up your bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in you? What's he saying? You don't love your brother, you don't love God. Okay, but here's the thing. Does every saved person just automatically give unto their brother who has need? Not necessarily. That's not automatic. That's something that we have to work on. Putting on the new man, walking in the spirit, having the love that we need to have. We ought to do that, the Bible says. He says in verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. See, deed is another word for work. The deeds of the law, the works of the law, the deeds, the works, it's the same word. You know what? We're not saved by our deeds. We're not saved by our works, but we should have these deeds. We should have these works and we should love the children of God, not just with lip service, but we should love the children of God in deed. We should do deeds that show our love for our fellow Christian, our love for the children of God. The Bible says in verse 19, and hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. 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 we confidence toward God, verse 22, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, 1 John 3.22, because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. 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. Go to 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. This is a theme in the book. It comes up over and over again. Half the book is about loving one another, if you read 1 John. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love, and 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. Here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we automatically love, no, he said we ought, that means we should also, we ought also 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. You see, people who really love their brothers and sisters in Christ, it's not enough just to be born of God. He said everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Those are not the same thing. Those are not the same thing. There's being born of God and then there's knowing God. See the Apostle Paul, who's a great Christian, what did he say in Philippians chapter 3? He said, but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto him. He said, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that also I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Even I count not myself to have apprehended. So as he said, hey, I know God, I'm there. He said, my goal is to know God. That's what I'm striving for. I have not yet fully achieved that. That's the mission. That's the goal. And he's already deep into serving God. He's been saved a long time. He's writing from prison where he was arrested for preaching. He's doing a great job. But he said, I'm not there yet. I have not yet attained. I've not yet apprehended. I don't fully know Christ as I want to. I've given up everything and followed him so that I can know him. He said, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So the goal of the Christian life is to know him, to know Christ. And look, the moment you get saved, oh yeah, I know everything there is to know about Christ. I mean, think about it. When I married my wife, I knew her in the sense that, oh yeah, we know each other. But I didn't really know her, especially since we only dated for two weeks. But that's another story. But anyway, over the course of almost 17 years of marriage, don't you think I know my wife a lot more now than I did when I first married? We know each other a lot more. And here's the thing. I'm still getting to know my wife. Ten years from now, I'm going to know her more. The Bible commands me as a husband to dwell with her according to knowledge. Get to know her. And I'm getting to know her, and I'm going to know her even more deeply next year than I do this year, God willing. But it's a process. Well, here's the thing. Getting saved is a one-time thing. It's not a process. Just like birth is instantaneous, you're born again. But there's a process of getting to know God, knowing Christ. And look, some Christians know Him more deeply than others. You hear a lot of Christians say a lot of foolish things about God where it's clear like, these people don't know God. These people don't know the God of the Bible. I mean, they're barely even acquainted with Him. They need to get out the Bible and read it and get to know the God of the Bible, right? But here's what determines whether or not you go to heaven. It's not whether or not you know God. It's whether or not He knows you. It's whether or not He knows you. See, He doesn't say, Depart from Me. You didn't know Me. He said, Depart from Me. I never knew you. And the Bible even makes that distinction. I don't have the scripture offhand in front of me. I don't have it memorized. But the one where He says, you know, to know God, but rather to be known of God. He draws the distinction between there's knowing God and there's being known of God. And look, if He doesn't know you, you're in trouble. You're doomed if He never knew you. When you get saved, He knows you. It's sort of like this. When I was born into my parents' family, July 24th, 1981, when I was born into my parents' family, they knew me a lot better than I knew them, right, because I'm a baby. I don't know anything about them. But they knew a lot more about me. And I guarantee you that six months into my life, they knew a lot more about me than I knew about them. And 12 months into my life, they knew more about me than I knew about them, right? But then as I got more mature and older and started eating solid food and the meat, the strong meat, then I began to know my parents more deeply, right? Now, look, my parents aren't God. God knows us even greater than our physical parents know us. But that's still an illustration that stands where our parents know us even if we don't necessarily know them. And then as we get more mature, we get to know them. And it's the same way with God. We get to know God as we mature in Him. So look, are you there in 1 John chapter 2? Look at verse 3. Hereby we do know that we know Him. Or wait a minute. Were we in chapter 4? Did we finish? Yeah, we finished. Go to chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. I finished up what I was trying to say over there. I got to hurry. I'm running out of time here. It's a great book, though. You know, you really need to get into the book of 1 John on your own. But look, I would classify the book of 1 John as more of a strong meat of the Word. I think the Gospel of John is pretty bottom shelf. But 1 John is a tough... I think Revelation is pretty bottom shelf in the sense that it's all being revealed. But 1 John is one of the tougher books. People are always saying to me, you know, preach on 1 John. It's a difficult book. I'm struggling with it. But you say, well, why would a book about loving our brothers and sisters in Christ be so difficult? Well, because it's difficult sometimes to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says that charity one with another is the bond of perfectness. I mean, that's the sign of a very mature believer when they have perfect love for their brothers and sisters in Christ. That's advanced. This is an advanced book, advanced teachings. It says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 3, here by we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So again, this is not Him knowing us. This is us knowing Him. We know Him if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. Right? So you can't say, oh, I really know God. Well, let's check how you're doing on the commandments, right? The apostle Paul, in his quest to know God, he had to count a lot of things done. He had to get rid of a lot of things. And he had to work hard and press toward the mark and go through a lot of things. But who so keepeth His word in Him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we're in Him. He that saith He abideth in Him ought Himself also so to walk even as He walked. That's the goal. Look at verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. A new commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again a new commandment I write unto you. Which thing is true in Him and in you? Because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. 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 has blinded His eyes. Let me just sum all this up for you and explain it all to you briefly. We looked at a lot of scripture. We looked at a lot from 1 John chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5. We went to a few other places. We're talking about some pretty deep concepts here. We're talking about some strong meat of the word here. But let me just boil it down for you, everything that we learned. You're saved by just believing that Jesus is the Christ. 1 John 5.1. You put all your faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You're saved. Now if you're trusting your works or your deeds, you're not saved. But if you're fully trusting Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, you're saved by that Gospel. Okay. Is living right, loving God, loving your brethren, and keeping the commandments automatic? No. It's silly to think it's automatic when the Bible is telling us in the New Testament chapter after chapter, do what's right. Don't fornicate. Do what's right. Don't sin. Walk in the light. He's constantly telling us to do right because it's not automatic. It's something we have to work at. Okay. And then we also see that these things all go hand in hand. Loving God, loving the children of God, and keeping God's commandments. Those three things all go together. You can't say, well, I love God and I keep the commandments. I love God and I keep the commandments. But then you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ. You're a liar. That can't be. You can't listen to me. You cannot have these things independently. All three of these things must grow together in your life. Or you can't just say, oh, I just love God so much and I'm just brimming over with love for my brothers and sisters in Christ as you break God's commandments. No. Because if you say you keep his commandments, I mean, you say you love God and don't keep his commandments, you're a liar. And if you say that you love your brother and sister in Christ, well, didn't the Bible say that if we love God and love our neighbor as ourself, that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets? Because if we commit adultery, that's not loving our brother and sister in Christ. That's not loving our neighbor. If we lie, if we steal, if we murder, if we covet, if we bear false witness, that shows that we don't love the people around us. And if we have other gods before him or make a graven image or take his name in vain, look, what are we saying? That we don't love God. You can't say, oh, I just love God so much and I love the children of God so much as you're constantly breaking God's commandments, that's not true. If you really loved God and you loved the children of God, you would treat them right, you would do right toward them. Your actions would reflect that love. And if you say, oh, man, I just love the children of God and I just love keeping God's commandments and we see you keeping God's commandments and we see your love for the brotherhood, we see your love for the brothers and sisters, you know what that tells us? We don't even have to ask whether you love God, we know that you love God because we see you keeping his commandments and we see that you love him that's begotten of God. And if you love the children of God, you love God. And if you love God, you love the children of God. So how do we implement this in our lives? What we need to do is obviously work on keeping God's commandments, but you already knew that before the sermon. What we need to really work on is making sure that we don't have bitterness or hatred or disgust for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Work on having real unfeigned love of the brotherhood. Work on really loving our brothers and sisters in Christ and putting that into action. And obviously working on loving the Lord, working on loving his word and singing praises to him and worshiping him and caring about what he wants for our lives. You see, as we work on these three things in tandem, loving God, loving the children of God, keeping God's commandments, we'll grow in all three at once because you can't have the one without the other. They're all connected. They all rely on one another. And so the title of the sermon is loving the children of God, loving the children of God. And you can do a spiritual self-test. Do you love the children of God? Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? And if the answer, whatever the answer is, that's the same degree that you love God. You know, and that's a spiritual barometer right there of how you're doing as far as walking in the Spirit versus walking in the flesh, because walking in the Spirit means you love God. You love the children of God. You keep his commandments. If somebody says, oh, man, I'm just walking in the Spirit, and you see them just committing sin all the time, that tells you they're in the flesh, right? Why? Because the one who's born of God, he doesn't commit sin. That's the Spirit. That's the new man. When you see somebody living in sin, it tells you they're walking in the old man. When you see the laziness, you see the bitterness, you see the wickedness, that's just all signs of somebody who might be saved, but they're walking in the flesh. They need to put on the new man. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.