Wordly Hatred, Christian Love

[0:00] We're in 1 John chapter 3, starting in verse 11, going all the way to chapter 4, verse 6. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.

[0:36] Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

[0:49] Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

[1:04] But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

[1:16] Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and we assure our heart before him.

[1:27] For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.

[1:39] And whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

[1:55] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

[2:11] For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

[2:22] And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

[2:38] For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

[2:51] We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.

[3:02] This is the word of the Lord. In last week's passage, John wrote about how we can distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil.

[3:17] And the basis for distinguishing that was whether or not we practice righteousness. And Matt helpfully explained to us last week that insofar as we are abiding in Christ, remaining in him through faith and obedience, that we can't keep on, we cannot keep on sinning.

[3:33] For that reason, a person's righteousness or wickedness is evidence of the person's genuine faith or lack thereof. And so chapter 3 verse 10 concluded the passage by saying this, Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

[3:52] So he added at the end there the provision about loving one's Christian brother. And that's inclusive of the Christian sister as well. And that's because our love for one another is a defining characteristic of the Christian.

[4:05] A defining characteristic is something that characterizes all the members of a single group and is sufficiently distinctive that it can be used to determine a person's membership in that group.

[4:18] So you might have a lot of characteristics that overlap with other Christians, but if you don't have this characteristic, this defining characteristic, you cannot rightly claim to be a Christian.

[4:32] And in this passage that we just read, John elaborates on two defining characteristics of the Christian. And that's this, that as followers of Christ who laid down his life for us, we should be characterized by our faith in Jesus and our love for one another.

[4:50] That's the two defining characteristics. So first we're going to talk about our love for one another in verses 11 to 22, chapter 3. And then we'll talk about faith in Jesus Christ from chapter 3, verse 23 to chapter 4, verse 6.

[5:04] He first explains that our love for one another is an indispensable mark of the Christian. He begins in verse 11. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

[5:18] He emphasizes that this is the command that we have heard from the beginning. So from the beginning of the audience's Christian journey of following Christ, from the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, the disciples who followed him heard this command, and the command was to love one another.

[5:41] Jesus' message to us, his command to us, didn't evolve over time. It didn't vary. It didn't change. It was consistent from the beginning, and that is we should love one another.

[5:54] And this is a key theme in all of Apostles John's writings, and this is the first of six references to Jesus' command to love one another in this letter alone.

[6:06] And John explains this further by first giving us a negative example of hating one's brother in verses 12 to 15. And then he gives us a positive example of loving one's brother in verses 16 to 22.

[6:19] He says in verse 12, John's alluding to Genesis chapter 4, According to the narrative in Genesis, the Lord did this because Abel, as a shepherd, offered, it says, the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

[6:57] So Abel brought to God the best, the first of his flock, the best of his flock. But Cain, as a farmer, did not offer the firstfruits of the produce. And later in the Old Testament, this ideal of bringing the firstfruits as an offering to God is codified in the law.

[7:14] And so to summarize it, Abel brought his cream of the crop, and Cain brought his crumbs to God. Abel brought something that was truly second. Cain brought what he could sell.

[7:28] But Cain, whose own, out of envy and anger, murdered Abel, his brother, whose deeds were righteous. And then John continues in verse 13, Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

[7:45] In the same way that Cain hated his brother, Abel, were evil and his brother was righteous, the sinful, unbelieving world will hate us.

[7:56] Jesus said in John 7, verse 7, The world hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. Jesus also said in John 15, verses 18 to 19, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

[8:12] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

[8:22] The world is in rebellion against God. They recognize that Christians live by a code of a different kingdom. And that fuels their hatred because the world hates aliens.

[8:37] Those were not like them. By living according to the word of God, we testify to the world that their works, which is contrary to the word of God, are evil. And the world hates that testimony.

[8:50] By claiming the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and saying that salvation is found in Him alone, we testify to the world that their religions and philosophies and worldviews, which contradict the word of God, are false and inadequate.

[9:06] And the world hates that testimony. So we should not be surprised when the world hates us. I think often we can be surprised by the vitriol or the persecution we receive from the world.

[9:22] And I think too many Christians try to fit in and please the world and in doing so, water down the message of Jesus Christ and trying to kind of bend you over backwards and trying to make it seem like we don't have anything unique and different to offer to the world.

[9:38] As if we are just like them. We fit in. Nothing different about us. That's not true. The message we offer is necessarily different. It necessarily contrasts us from the world.

[9:51] And when that's the case, it's not a surprise when the world hates us. If we live faithfully and righteously, the world will hate us for the same reason Cain hated Abel.

[10:02] In contrast, here's what assures us of our eternal life. Not the world's love for us, but this, verse 14, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

[10:15] Whoever does not love abides in death. Christians are here described as those who have passed out of death into life. This is a reference to eternal life, not coming into ultimate judgment.

[10:29] And so we have assurance of salvation, eternal life through our faith in the word of Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the basis for our confidence in this status as those who possess eternal life is our love for the brothers and sisters in Christ.

[10:46] Whoever does not love, however, it says they abide in death. Since this is contrasted with eternal life, it likely refers to eternal spiritual death.

[10:57] And we know from the context of this letter that there were those who had denied Jesus and separated themselves from the church that John is addressing here in this letter. So he likely has those people in view when he says this.

[11:08] They, in contrast to you who love one another, they may have no confidence that they have eternal life. In fact, they may rest assured that they abide in death because by seceding from the body of Christ, they give evidence that they do not love the brothers.

[11:26] How can you, basically, John is saying, how can you claim to love the brothers and sisters whom you have forsaken? That's evidence not of love but hatred.

[11:38] And so John argues in verse 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Generally, people like to think that they are pretty good people.

[11:54] And they say something when you ask them, how good do you think you are? Do you think you should get into heaven? They say something along the lines of, well, you know, I've done some bad things, but I mean, I haven't killed anyone. You know, I'm not a murderer, right? I mean, that's kind of like the bottom, right?

[12:06] That's like the pit. It's just the worst thing that people can imagine you can do. And that's the same in John's time. So he says, you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

[12:18] We know this. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him. But the surprising thing here is that John associates hatred with murder. And he learned this lesson from Jesus.

[12:32] Jesus taught in Matthew 5, 21 to 22, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

[12:48] In the same way, a murderer is liable to judgment. A person who is sinfully angry and hates his brother will be liable to judgment. Jesus taught that murder is the blossom that grows on the bud of hatred, on the bud of anger.

[13:06] Cain envied and hated his brother Abel and that produced murder. Do you envy your brother or sister in Christ?

[13:17] Do you wish you had the favor or blessing that they enjoy or do you begrudge their happiness? Are you harboring anger or resentment toward anyone of your brother or sister in Christ?

[13:28] If that's the case, that's not something to take lightly but something to deal with urgently and immediately because harboring hatred, festering anger is the root of murder.

[13:40] Of course, the fear of the consequences and the societal pressures might keep us from the physical act but we may commit many murders in our hearts and God sees it all.

[13:54] And if hatred of one's brother leads to killing him, love of one's brother leads to dying for him. That's what John now turns to, the positive example in verse 16.

[14:06] By this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we are to lay down our lives for the brothers. We like to use a lot of kind of vague slogans about that include the word, the idea of love but we rarely define love.

[14:29] We rarely can precisely express what it looks like but John tells us exactly what love looks like, what the definite standard of love is and he says this, that Jesus laid down his life for us and we are to lay down our lives for the brothers.

[14:50] Jesus, the eternal son of God, took on a human nature and became a son of man so that he could share in our infirmities so that he might bear our sins on the cross.

[15:05] Jesus, the eternal word of life took on our mortal nature and experienced death in our place. Many of us have heard this gospel message many times and it's easy to just let it slip through our ears but think about that and let that sink in for a moment.

[15:23] Maybe it would be helpful to think about it this way. When we hear in the news that a baby, a baby which is in life and innocence is brutally and violently murdered or when you hear in the news that a nun, which is a symbol of chastity, is raped, it repulses us, doesn't it?

[15:52] It makes us sick to our stomach. That kind of same reaction should be present when we hear that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us because the word of life was subjected to death.

[16:10] The righteous one, the one who always spoke truly and always acted righteously, was killed as a criminal and as a sinner.

[16:22] That should have never happened. That should have never been. Our Lord should have never been subjected to such humiliation but He endured it for our sake.

[16:36] He endured it so that we might trust in Him for salvation and live and that's how we know what love is. That God became a Son of Man. The Son of God became a Son of Man and died for us and nobody forced Him to do this.

[16:51] Jesus said this in John 10 verses 7 and 18, I lay down my life that I might take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord.

[17:02] I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. Pilate did not force Jesus to die. Caesar didn't force Jesus to die.

[17:14] Even God the Father did not force Jesus to die. Jesus died out of His willing obedience to His Father. He voluntarily laid down His life that He might save us.

[17:29] And it's in that sacrifice that we know what love is. And since Jesus, our elder brother in the family of God, laid down His life for us, it follows that we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

[17:49] Unless we get lost in these kind of high, noble, abstract ideals but fail to grasp the concrete and tangible ramifications of this command, John continues with the more specific implication of this in verses 17 to 18.

[18:06] But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

[18:19] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. A brother in need calls for a love in deed, not just word.

[18:35] How can you say that God's love resides in you when you don't have love for your brothers and sisters who are the object of God's special affection? People that God purchased with the precious blood of His own Son.

[18:49] How can you say God's love abides in you when you don't love your brothers and sisters? And how can you claim to love your brother or sister when despite seeing their need, you close your heart against him or her?

[19:07] We cannot claim to be ready to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters when we don't even share the world's goods, material goods, physical goods with one another. James chapter 2 verses 15 to 16 offers a close parallel.

[19:23] It says, If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

[19:40] When we refuse to feed a hungry brother or sister, when we refuse to nurse a sick brother or sister, when we refuse to clothe a poorly clothed brother or sister, and we don't do it, our religion is useless.

[19:57] We demonstrate by our actions that our words mean nothing to us. We prove that God's love does not abide in us. I was just reading in the news yesterday about Don Giussupi Berardelli.

[20:17] I don't know if you guys saw this story. He was a 72-year-old Christian priest in Lombardi, Italy and one of the areas hardest hit by COVID-19. He caught COVID-19 and he was in the hospital on a ventilator.

[20:32] He actually owned this ventilator. It was his personal ventilator that his church members had purchased for him because he already had a respiratory illness and needed one. And so even though hospitals didn't have enough, he had one.

[20:46] but he recognized that there were others in the room and especially there was a younger person who desperately needed a ventilator and was about to die and so he gave up his own ventilator, one that he owns, so that this person might live and then he died shortly thereafter.

[21:05] There is no greater love than this than the friend lays down his life as Jesus did.

[21:16] He was following in the footsteps of the Savior that he served for 70 or so years of his life. And right now is a great opportunity for us as a church to demonstrate our love for one another.

[21:30] It's possible that some of us will get sick with COVID-19 in the coming days and weeks. It's possible that some of us will get very sick.

[21:42] Some of us might even lose loved ones. In the last two weeks alone, not only health-wise, but 10 million people in the U.S.

[21:53] have filed for unemployment. Just a staggering number. One of our own members is also recently unemployed due to COVID-19. And we expect that there will be more needs in the coming weeks and months in our church.

[22:09] But if anyone hath the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? This is not the time for us to close our hearts to one another.

[22:27] describing the early church, it says in Acts chapter 4 verses 34 to 35, there was not a needy person among them.

[22:45] For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to each as any had need.

[23:09] So long as any of us has a roof over our head, our brothers and sisters in Christ should not be homeless. So long as any of us has food on our tables, our brothers and sisters should not be going hungry.

[23:23] so long as any of us have money to spend, our brothers and sisters should not be begging. Because this is our family, this is God's family.

[23:36] Thank you. To this end, we created a fund this week called the COVID-19 Relief Fund.

[23:50] In addition to our general church fund, we're going to use this fund to provide urgent temporary aid to church members who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[24:06] And we're asking you to give to that over and above your normal tithes and offerings. And you can do that on our website. Go to bit.do trinitygive and choose the COVID-19 Relief Fund.

[24:18] We can kind of tell you on the chat after how to do that. And please let us know of any needs that arise. Don't keep it to yourself. If you feel badly about telling us in person about the needs that you have, just fill out that online survey.

[24:36] Tell us what you're going through so that we can walk through this time with you. This is when the body of Christ must bond together and care for one another. Any surplus money that we might have from that fund will be used to aid other gospel-centered churches in the area that are experiencing critical financial hardship if there is any surplus.

[25:01] I was speaking with a pastor friend of mine in New Jersey and he shared with me that his church this past week cut five staff members, including one of the pastors because their regular tithes and offerings have taken such a hit from not gathering week to week.

[25:18] I think our love for one another should extend an overflow out of our own local church as well when we are able. In the same way in Acts 11 when prophet Agabus prophesied of a great famine that was coming over the whole region, it says that the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

[25:42] on a couple different occasions recorded in the New Testament, believers from other regions gathered funds to send to the churches in Jerusalem because it seems that they were particularly impoverished.

[25:53] And when we love one another in this way, when our love is demonstrated in deed, that gives us assurance before God, this passage teaches us.

[26:09] John writes in verses 19 to 22, These verses are difficult to interpret.

[26:40] It's yielded many different interpretations. In order to understand it rightly, we have to pay close attention to its immediate context. First, note the repetition of the word heart in this passage.

[26:54] First, in verse 17, John told us that God's love does not abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him.

[27:06] That's the first instance of the word heart there. So we shouldn't close our heart against our brothers and sisters in Christ. Then verse 19 tells us how we can reassure our heart before God.

[27:19] How we might have confidence in our heart before God, in his presence, that we are of the truth, that we belong to him. So this is the thesis of verses 19 to 22.

[27:30] And then in verses 20 and verse 21, John gives us two kind of opposing scenarios that are parallel to each other. It's an antithetical parallel.

[27:42] They oppose each other, but they match each other in structure. So this gets a little bit lost in translation, but both verse 20 and verse 21 begin with if in the original language.

[27:54] It says, if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. So you notice the parallel structure there.

[28:07] Remember what John told us in verse 19. He's trying to teach us how we can reassure our heart before God, how we can have confidence before God. Verse 20 is a negative scenario, a situation in which one cannot reassure one's heart before God.

[28:25] And verse 21 is a positive scenario, a situation where one can reassure one's heart before God. And so with that overall structure in mind, we can better understand the meaning of verses.

[28:36] Let's look at verse 20. It says, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and he knows everything. So this is a negative scenario where our heart condemns us.

[28:50] We have closed our heart against our brother or sister. And because of that, our heart, our own hearts condemn us. And as a result, we can't convince our own hearts that we have done what is right in withholding material support from our Christian brothers and sisters.

[29:09] And when we have done that, how can we reassure our heart before God? Since God's greater than even our heart. And he knows everything.

[29:21] We might try to rationalize our lack of love for our brothers and sisters and try to convince ourselves, convince our own hearts by saying, well, I need this food just as much as he does.

[29:33] I need this money just as much as she does. Giving stuff to him is not the best thing. It might make him dependent and complacent. You know, she should have worked harder and prepared better for these kinds of emergencies.

[29:47] We might say all kinds of things trying to persuade our hearts, to convince our hearts, reassure our hearts in light of having closed our hearts against our brothers. But our hearts won't let us off the hook that easily and our heart condemns us.

[30:03] And what John is saying is when even our own sinful heart condemns us, there is no chance that we can reassure our heart before God. Because God is greater than our heart and he knows everything.

[30:20] We might fool ourselves but we can never fool God because he sees the hidden motivations and murmurs of our heart that we ourselves are not even aware of.

[30:33] 16th century pastor and Protestant reformer John Calvin concurs with our interpretation. He says this, For if anyone is conscious of guilt and is condemned by his own heart, much less can he escape the judgment of God.

[30:49] It hence follows that faith is subverted by the disquiet of an evil conscience. God is greater than our heart with reference to judgment that is because God sees much more keenly than we do and searches more minutely and judges more severely.

[31:06] To the same purpose is what immediately follows that God knoweth or sees all things. For how can those things be hid from him which we who in comparison with him are dull and blind are constrained to see?

[31:19] The meaning is now clear that since the knowledge of God penetrates deeper than the perceptions of our conscience, no one can stand before God except the integrity of his conscience sustains him.

[31:34] In contrast, verses 21 to 22 say, if our heart does not condemn us, if we have opened up our hearts toward our brothers and sisters in need, we have confidence before God and whatever we ask, we receive from him.

[31:52] because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. If we share the world's goods with our brothers and sisters when we see them in need, our heart does not condemn us and as a result, because of our integrity, we have confidence before God and when we have confidence before God, our hearts are reassured before him and we can ask for him and we receive from him our prayer, answers to our prayers because it says we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

[32:21] A clear conscience before God this means produces confidence before God in prayer. Conversely, there's ample evidence in scripture that sin separates us from God so that it says in Isaiah 59 verse 2, he does not hear.

[32:41] Psalm 66 18 says, if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. God delights to answer those who obey him because obedience is the evidence of faith and God answers prayers of faith.

[33:06] So when we obey God in loving one another, it says we have confidence before God and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And then in verses 23-24, John reiterates exactly what this commandment of God is that we are to obey.

[33:25] He says, and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him.

[33:40] And by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. In verses 22-24, John uses the plural commandments, but in verse 23, he uses the singular commandment, and by doing that, John tells us that while these two commandments are distinguishable, they are inseparable.

[34:03] Because our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ depends on and slows from our fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. God because receiving the love of Christ who laid down his life for us is the foundation, the basis for our love for one another and laying down our lives for one another.

[34:23] And so we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another. These are the two distinguishing marks of the Christian that John emphasizes over and over again.

[34:35] And that's where I get the main point that as followers of Christ who laid down his life for us, we should be characterized by our faith in Jesus and our love for one another. Faith and love.

[34:46] If we have these two things, we know that God abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us, it says. I should note here that to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ is not merely to assent mentally to the fact that Jesus is God's son and the Christ, the promised Messiah.

[35:05] It doesn't mean merely to confess his name verbally. It means pledging allegiance to him. It means to align yourself, to come under the authority and the power and the purposes and the priorities of his name.

[35:23] And so when we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ in this way, the Bible promises that we receive the Holy Spirit from God the Father so that God himself, the triune God, through his spirit abides in us and dwells in us.

[35:39] We abide in God by believing in Jesus and loving one another and God abides in us through his Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, that's the unspeakable honor and privilege of being a Christian.

[35:56] Think about it. Though we are weak and frail, God Almighty dwells in us. Though we are sinful, the Holy One dwells in us. The King deigns to dwell among his subjects.

[36:10] The Creator makes his home within his creatures. That's the unfathomable reality that he's speaking of. I have been crucified with Christ, Paul said in Galatians 2.20.

[36:21] It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

[36:32] That's what it means to live as a Christian. Abide in God, to let him abide in us, to keep in step with the Spirit, to live every waking moment with the understanding, with the awareness that the Lord God himself indwells us and lives in and through us.

[36:55] And then having taught us that when we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, God himself abides in us through the Spirit, John proceeds to explain what it's like to receive the true Spirit of God in chapter 4, verses 1-6.

[37:07] He says in chapter 4, verse 1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

[37:19] Not everyone who claims to have received the Spirit of God actually has the Spirit of God. They need to be tested because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

[37:30] There are people in the world who claim to speak for God, but in fact, do not. This is a needful warning because false prophets, the Bible describes them as being insidious, subtle.

[37:48] They are stealthy and deceptive. Matthew chapter 7, verse 15, Jesus warns us that false prophets come to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious, ravenous wolves.

[37:59] Similarly, 2 Peter 2, verse 1 warns us that false prophets and false teachers will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them.

[38:13] False teachers don't come to us announcing themselves just as wolves don't enter the sheepfold announcing their presence. They are rather secretive, they are stealthy, they are insidious, they introduce their false teachings secretly, imperceptibly even, gradually.

[38:31] They dress themselves up as one of God's own, one of God's sheep, when in fact they are there only to pray on the sheep of God. And here's the test that we are to use to see whether the spirits that are inspiring these people to speak are from God or not.

[38:47] Verses 2 to 3, If one truly has the spirit of God, that person will confess the incarnate word, Jesus Christ, son of God who took on human flesh.

[39:14] But anyone who refuses to confess Jesus Christ is animated not by the spirit of God but by the spirit of the Antichrist. Please heed this lesson brothers and sisters.

[39:26] It doesn't matter how eloquent the person is, how learned the person is, how respectable the person is, it doesn't matter how many true and good things that person has taught and done, it doesn't matter how nice that person seems, if he denies Jesus Christ, he's a false teacher, a false prophet.

[39:52] Deuteronomy chapter 13 is a helpful illustration of this, verses 1-4, if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or a wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

[40:17] For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

[40:35] Jesus is our Lord. Jesus is our King. He is our Savior. He is our Master. He is our God. God and you shouldn't let anyone not your parents, not your pastors, not your teachers, not your presidents, you should not let anyone lead you away from him, Jesus Christ.

[40:58] Don't let anyone tell you that as long as we try to love people and try to live a good life, we don't need to make a total commitment to Jesus. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

[41:17] It is instead the spirit of the Antichrist. But John doesn't stop with the warning. He concludes the section with a follow-up encouragement, once again addressing God's people affectionately as little children.

[41:33] He says in verse 4, you are from God and have overcome them. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

[41:46] Your faith in Jesus Christ and your love for one another, they attest to the reality, the spiritual reality, that God abides in you. And so remember then that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

[42:01] This is similar to what Jesus said in John 16 verse 33, in the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

[42:12] Because the one who has overcome the world dwells in us. You, we have already overcome those who are in the world. And so it shouldn't surprise us when people reject the message of Jesus Christ when we share it with them.

[42:29] It says in verse 5, they are from the world. Therefore, they speak from the world and the world listens to them. These people, the world, people of the world, they belong to the world.

[42:40] They speak from the viewpoint, the perspective of the world. And so it's no surprise that they listen to the world. The world listens to them, they listen to the false prophets. They find the false teaching acceptable.

[42:54] In contrast, verse 6 says, We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

[43:07] We should not be surprised that some people reject the message of Jesus because Jesus himself was rejected many times during his lifetime. And it's only those who are guided by the spirit of truth that will believe in Jesus.

[43:22] The gospel is music that only those who are guided by the spirit of God can hear and respond to and dance to in this life. And as long as we are abiding in God through faith in Jesus and love for one another, we can rest assured no matter what might come, no matter how reviled we are by the world, no matter what persecutions come, no matter how hated, despised we are, no matter how no matter what happens to us in this world, that ultimate victory is ours in Jesus.

[44:03] We have already overcome the world and eternal life will be soon our full possession. And so please hope in that brothers and sisters as you go.

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