Did Christ ever say, “By your understanding of eschatology, the end time doctrines, shall all men know that ye are my disciples?” Did the Lord Jesus, ever say, “By your general Bible knowledge shall men know that ye are my disciples?” How about: “By your soul-winning skills,people will know you are Spirit-filled children of God?” No? Let’s get more practical: “By your church attendance, tithing and modest dress habits, the world will know?” I hope that you all know that what our Saviour said in John 13:35 was: “By THIS shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another.” Notice that this isn’t love for God or love for Christ, but love one to another.
The Apostle John was present on the night of Christ’s last Passover and the institution of the Lord’s Supper. John watched Judas get up from the table and go out into the darkness, not knowing what he intended to do. He heard Jesus say, “NOW is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” He became confused when he heard, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Then came the words, “A new commandment I give unto you…” “A new COMMANDMENT; here my final ORDERS to you…” “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have love you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Those words, given on that epoch-changing day, seemed to strike the heart of John more than they did any of the others. John became known as “the Apostle of Love.” This First Epistle of John is not the only reason for that nickname. But at this point in his letter he picks up this theme, and he can’t drop it for the next fifty verses. It is not the generic idea that Christians love Christ or Christians love God. It makes me sick when I hear some people say those words. But they don’t love the Bible, they don’t love the Lord’s church, and they don’t love Christ’s brethren. According to God’s Word there are a few things Christians should hate, but people are among those things
Because there are more than twenty references to love in this scripture, I couldn’t come up with an outline. So rather than a sermon, we are going to have a brief verse by verse Bible study.
Verse 10:
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, either he that loveth not his brother.” Have you noticed how John enjoys using and reusing words? For example, here God’s children and the devil’s children become “manifest” through righteousness. Among the six times John used this word, we have it twice in the context. “Ye know that (Christ) was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” And “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Christ was revealed in order to deal with Satan and our sin. And our characters are revealed in our righteous way of life. “In this the children of God are manifest.” Another word John repeats over and over again is “brother” – fourteen times.
Of course this verse is written from a negative point of view. But it ties together a lack of righteousness with a lack of love for the brethren. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the ways which we “do righteousness.” And among all the other righteous things we might do, none of them are mentioned here but love. Among all the righteous acts we might perform, love of the brethren stands out above them all. And not to love the brethren is evidence of a lack of righteousness. Let that sink in.
“For this is the message what ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Don’t dodge the point by saying “we SHOULD love;” it is only recommended that we love one another. No, this is the message that our Saviour left us from the time of the completion of His salvation work and His subsequent departure from this world. The Greek word translated “message” is the root word underlaying “evangelism.” This command or message is almost as important as the gospel itself; it is somewhat part of the gospel. Doesn’t verse 23 come close to reiterating that fact: “And this is the commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as, he gave us commandment.” “Love your brother in Christ” is up there close to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
At this point John brings up Cain who didn’t love his brother. How do we know Cain didn’t love Abel? It is obvious. He murdered him. Turning verse 15 around: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” “Marvel not, by brethren, if the world tries to persecute you into extermination.” “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you,” because the world doeth not righteousness. Don’t be surprised if your government turns on you the way Cain turned on Abel. Don’t be surprised if persecution becomes policy, as it has been in the past or as it is in other countries. Persecution of the saints is not something limited to the seven year tribulation. A lack of love is one of the characteristics of Satan’s world.
Verse 14:
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” I have given this message the title: “Empirical Evidence.” “Empirical evidence is information gained through direct or indirect observation or experimentation.” This entire epistle deals with the empirical evidence which proves to the world that the saint is God’s child. And all of those evidences should give to the saint that encouragement he needs. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” (I John 5:13).
The professing Christian who does not love other Christians, proves that he is not a Christian. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Maybe you were raised a racist. Maybe you were taught to hate people of other skin tones and languages. Maybe your parents hated the Jews for whatever reason. Those are things from which the Lord should have delivered you. They are sin. Maybe with good cause, you dislike that other man’s theology. If you hate him for it, you are in as much sin as he is, and maybe you aren’t even one of God’s children. You may think: “Okay, I’ll tolerate his foolishness. I’ll put up with him, but that’s all.”
John, is toleration enough? Verse 16: “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.” Notice in passing how this verse could be used to prove that Jesus Christ is God: God laid down his life. This was just in passing, because John’s point wasn’t Christ’s deity; it was the proof of His love. “Hereby perceive we the love of God.” The word “perceive” is translated nearly two hundred times more often: “to know.” “By this we know God loves use, because he laid down his life for us.” We are to love the brethren in the same way that God loves the brethren; the way He loves you. I John 4:11: “Beloved, if God so lo us, we ought also to love one another.” And “He laid down his life for us.”
Many a man says that he would stand between his wife a drugged out murderer with a knife in his hand. How many of them would also stand between that murderer and one of the other sisters in our church? “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Hopefully that murderous man will never come into your life. So are there other ways to illustrate our love for the brethren? Verse 17: “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?” Love gives. It gives in real time and with real substance. Love is willing to sacrifice. Love is an action verb. Yes, love is a word, but it isn’t confined to words. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” Love doesn’t say, “depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.” “Notwithstanding ye give them not those thing which are needful to the body…” (James 2).
I John 3:16: “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Again, the word “ought” doesn’t suggest a friendly suggestion. It is a command. The first three times that word is used in the Bible they come in one of the Lord’s parables. Matthew 18:28: “The… servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which OWED him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou OWEST. “And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the DEBT.” “His lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was DUE unto him.” The point of that word here is that love is not a choice, but an obligation; it is a debt.
Going back to the idea of empirical evidence we have verse 20: “If a man say, I love God, and he hateth his brother, he is a lair; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” And verse 12: “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” There should ever be in our hearts a desire to perfect the things of God as best we can. That means we need to work on our love.
John addresses another subject for a few verses, but he can’t leave his passion for love very long.
Chapter 4:7:
“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” In most books on theology, there are chapters dealing with the attributes of God. One of those chapters or one of the points in those chapters is a study of God’s attribute of love. John says in verse 8 and again in verse 16: “God is love.” He is other things such as holy, but God is also love. And this attribute of God is instrumental in our salvation. Verse 9: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Robert Harkness wrote a hymn we often sing. It begins with the words, “Love sent my Saviour to die in my stead. Why should he love me so?” There is no explanation for God’s love except that God loves. So one of the characteristics or attributes of our Heavenly Father is love. And as children of God, it isn’t that we SHOULD or we WILL resemble our Father, but we DO resemble. Everyone who loves as God loves is a child of God and those who do not are not.
Verse 11: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
John finishes up this subject in chapter 5.
“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.”
John’s premise here is that no one can be a child of God without having love for the Heavenly Father. And that means two things: First: it is impossible to love the Father without a love for the Son as well, and vise versa. Don’t talk to me about loving the Jesus of the New Testament, if you don’t at the same time love the God of the Old Testament. Do you love the God destroyed the world in the days of Noah and the God who loved Jacob but hated Esau? If you truly love Christ Jesus, you must love the God who sent Christ into the world.
The second premise is that those who love God will also love what God has revealed and commanded. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” And what is it He has commanded? Among other things, the Lord has commanded to love the brethren with an unrestricted and sacrificial love.
This is empirical, tangible, practical evidence that we are children of God. Do you possess evidence that you are one of the children of God? Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ?