the rights and the privileges of children, of God. But also, we also have the duties and the obligations of children. What are those duties and obligations? Well, John tells us in chapter three. 1 John chapter three, starting in verse 10 and going to verse 23. This is the word of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Abel, who was an evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 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. 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. But if anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 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 reassure our hearts before him. 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, 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 is commanding us. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come to You. Teach us from Your Word. Show us the truth. Let us learn from Your instructions and Your commandments, and do them with all of our affections, and do them from the heart that wants to please You. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you know the plays of Shakespeare, some of his stage plays, you might know King Lear. If you've read it or if you've seen it on a show or an event, you know one of the opening scenes of King Lear is the three daughters that come to the King of England. fictitious play, and the king says, tell me how you love me. And so they give, the first two daughters give this lavish response, and the king is demanding love from his children. Demanding love. So as the play goes on, Shakespeare leaves in the love amongst people, and the man falls. Well, that is amongst humans. But also, God demands love. But he demands it in a different way than humans demand love, and fellow humans, their own selfish motives, or their own thinking. God demands it, because he is whole, and because he is God. In 1 John, we read that God demands us to love, love one another. God demands us, the believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, to love one another. So you today, just like the readers and the hearers of this first letter, are commanded to love one another. First, we look at the command. John writes about this command. In verses 11 to 15, he says, love is a command. It's the positive command, the agape love that we've been reading about and hearing about in this letter. The love that God has shown us in so many different ways, this deep and affectionate love that God has for his children, with deep affection and pleasure. It means in verse 11, John writes, For this is the message that we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. He has written about this in earlier in the letter, that this is the message, this is the proclamation of his teaching, that we are to love one another. He spoke about this earlier in the letter. If you remember in chapter 2, if you flip over in verses 7 through 14 of chapter 2, he speaks about this almost in a veiled sense, earlier on in the letter, about those who walk in darkness and those who walk in light. He contrasts between the light and the darkness, and he connects that with those who love and those that hate. And so now in chapter three, he's going to expand it, digging into it, into the details of how we are to love our brothers, and what it means to love. In John, in the Gospel of John, he writes in chapter 13, Jesus says this to his disciples, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." This is that old commandment that John is writing about in his letter. Going back to the Gospels, Jesus told his disciples, This commandment that you've heard about in the Old Testament, in the Torah, to love God with all of your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, that is also the New Testament believers. same law. Jesus repeats it. In that way, he makes it a new law. John is saying that same law that you heard in the Gospels applies to you now, later in that century. It applies to us today. It's that same law. To love God, to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Love our neighbors. In this way, you fulfill the law. John, you've noticed, speaks a lot about love in many different ways. So as Paul, we looked at this morning, the Egyptians and Romans and 1 Corinthians just saturate the language of love, the message that God loves us. And we are commanded to love one another, each other. So Paul writes in Romans 13, owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another, fulfill the law. Deuteronomy, Leviticus. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandments are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So this is fundamental to the Christian religion. Brothers and sisters, this is not an optional commandment. This is not something that John just threw into his letter and said Jesus somewhat spoke about it in his ministry. This is a command from God. You see this strain all the way from Sinai, all the way to Jesus' ministry, and now the apostles, John and Peter, are praying about this command to love one another. So today, we still have that command, over 2,000 years later, to love God and love our neighbor. We have to love, specifically, the people of God. Jesus spoke about love for our neighbors, love of the Good Samaritan that showed kindness to the beaten man, and that the love that we show to all men, as much as it depends on us, as much as we are able to love our community and our society, especially the people of God. Paul writes about this. And John is writing about this in his letter, to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. So we see this beautiful picture that John writes about of love for one another. But then right into our passage, John writes in verse 12, he gives us the negative. What is the opposite of love? We spoke about it earlier in the letter in chapter two. It's darkness. It's hate. It's evil. He gives an example. He gives an illustration in his letter. John writes in verse 12, We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother. Children, if you remember the story back in Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve left the garden, they had two sons, Cain and Abel. You remember that Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to God, and God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice, but He wasn't pleased with Cain's sacrifice. And there's a lot of vagueness in that passage. We don't really know all the details, but other parts of the scripture can tell us. In Hebrews, in this passage, here in John, that God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice because he was righteous. And the heart of Cain was evil. It was corrupt. King didn't love his brother. He didn't love his brother with all the affections and the command to love one another. So what did King do? He murdered his brother. In our society, amongst all societies for the world, murder is a great crime. It's one of the worst things you can do as a pig in King's life. You see that all around us and throughout human history, this conflict amongst humans, wars, killing of the innocent, the unborn. You see all of this, this hatred and evil in our society and all, so the source of it is the fall. The source of it is that hatred, the darkness that we fell into. John is writing, giving a picture of pain. He's saying, just like the devil, the person preceding this, is not the source of evil. He's the one that is the first one to sin. And all of those that continue in sin, that walk in sin and unrighteousness, are the children of the devil. And so those that do not love their brothers, that hate their brothers and sisters to Christ, follow him in the same way as King. Take the example of Joaquin and that of King. It says that in tune. It warns us as believers. Woe to them. Woe to those that think they can live this way. For they walk in the way of pain. Thus, the Apostle John gives us this example. He places pain as that of an example not to walk in. Do not hate your brothers. We are to be our brother's keeper. That's when God asked him, where's your brother? And he said, am I my brother's keeper? And the answer is yes. So in this verse, in verse 12, we see a contrast between love and hate, between life and death. And John asks the question to the reader, he asks it to us today, and why did he murder him? That's a question that he's asking us. And he answers it, because his own deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous. Abel's actions were righteous in what he did. Cain's were evil. He did not love his brother. The world is full of this hatred and evil. We read about it all throughout scripture and all throughout history. In these next verses, John is going to unpack this evil and tell us and warn us not to fall into that path. We read in verses 13 through 15. He writes to us, do not be surprised, brothers, that the wolf hates you. We know that we have passed out of death to life because we love the brothers. Word does not love but binds the dead. Join us today as brothers. Don't be surprised when the wolf hates you, when the wolf persecutes you. Jesus said to His disciples, He says to you, if they persecute Me, if they kill Me, they will persecute you. They will hate you because you walk in the light. You have the Gospel that is an offense to those that are in control, to those that aren't being hauled and softened by God. So we are not to be surprised when the world hates us, when we walk in the light and as we love the Kingdom of God, as we love the world. The Gospel is a great offense. When I was at Pittsburgh, the abortion clinic, there's these escorts. And often, we see the escorts are silent. And often, they push those that are trying to talk to the ladies and talk to the men that are coming. And just the evil that flows from them, that you give off, You can just sense it, the hatred that they have in their hearts, the hatred that they show to these believers that are coming to the clinic. So we are not to be surprised by the world's hatred. But John also writes that you who are walking in the light, and you do that, you show that by your love for the brothers. He writes in verse 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. These are strong words. He just spoke this same kind of language and his tone in the Sermon on the Mount. Remember that he says, if you look upon a woman in your heart, you've committed adultery with her. And then he says, if you have anger in your heart, you have murdered your brother. Calvin writes that even if you say, I wish this brother or this sister harm your heart, even though you don't physically touch them, even though you don't physically murder them and take their life, you have murdered them with your heart. That's what John is writing. He's just repeating what Jesus said, that same attitude of murder in our hearts. We should do that, brothers and sisters. We should love one another. Remember, as we've seen in these verses, verses 11 through 15, love is a command. Love is a command. Secondly, love is covenantal and communal. John writes about this in verses 16 through 18. Love is covenantal and communal. He writes in verse 16, by this we will have love, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. That he laid down his life for us. John is amazed that Jesus laid down his life for us. He's telling that to us through rooting the love of brothers and sisters in Christ in the core of the gospel. And Jesus coming down and giving his life. It says in Ephesians 2.4, but God who is rich in mercy because of the love with which he loved us. Jesus loved us. And he showed that to his disciples. He showed that to God's ministry by praying for them. He showed that to them by washing their feet. And we, like Mary and Bethany, are to wash Jesus' feet. We're to wash the feet of Jesus in worship and humility. And how do we do that? How do we wash Jesus' feet? We do that by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, by loving them with all of our heart, and knowing that the covenant-keeping God throughout the Old Testament kept His covenant. kept his promise by sending that seed of the woman. He sent Jesus Christ, and that way he shows perfect covenant keeping, perfect community in the example of the Trinity that we've seen throughout this letter. Both covenantal love and communal love go hand in hand. Love is covenantal. It is of the identity of God. He loves his children. But also it is communal. And we see this in the church. The theological terminology, the visible church that we have. And we saw that this morning in the election of an elder. We see the visible church working out the community, working out the covenant that we have promised. If you're a member here, a member of a church, you might have said a covenant of communicative membership. And if you're in the RTCNA, like myself, you have promised in these vows. In Vow 6, it says, do you promise to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the relationships of life, faithfully to perform your whole duty as a true servant of Jesus Christ, and all the relationships of love. You desire to seek, you desire to go after, to pursue the walk-in, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And how does that show itself? It shows itself in love. Look back at Ephesians 4, we see unity and the love of the brothers, the oneness that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ that's modeled after God's oneness and His love amongst Trinity and amongst the people of God. So we are to obey God with our love for one another. Paul writes in Romans, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. So, brothers and sisters, do not just affirm this vow, those that have taken it, in the mind, and you've affirmed it theologically, by doctrine, but do you affirm it in your heart, your affections? Do you take this vow, this vow to love, in all your relationships of life, all of the brothers and sisters in this community, but also the universal global church, that in some way and in other relationships, we are one in Christ. You may not vow to them in this congregation or this denomination, but we are one in Christ. There's one church, one Lord, one baptism. So love is communal, it is covenantal. But it is not just that. It is also flowing out of the Spirit. Love is patient and kind, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. In this beautiful chapter on love, Paul writes of what love is and what love is not. Love is not boastful. It does not gossip. It is not prideful. It is not selfish. So as we live our Christian life, as we go about our walk, we are not to walk in the ways that love is not. We are not to walk in that of hostileness, for gossip for one another, for living in pride and selfishness. But we are to walk in love, in that show of self-power and kindness that we show for one another. That we show love to one another in how we live our lives, as we communicate, as we talk to our spouses and our children. It's hard. And John tells us it is hard. And that's why he repeats it over and over again in his letter. And John talks about it all throughout his writings and Paul's writings. He talks about this love that we are to have for one another. It's because of the spirit that lives within us. is supposed to flow out of us before brothers and sisters speak Christ. John writes in verse 17, but if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother need, it closes his heart against him. How does God's love abide in him? John asks this rhetorical question to us, and the answer is, of course not. Love wouldn't abide in a believer if he had the world's goods and did not give them to a brother and sister in Christ in need. Of course, he's not speaking of whatever someone asks of you, you do it. But he's saying, if a brother or sister is in Christ, and they are in need, we are to take care of them. We are to take care of the community of God. We see that in the book of Acts, as the believers took care of one another. In love, we share the goods for one another. Love is an action. It is a gift that we show to one another. And God showed us that love. He showed us perfect love. But we are to show others that love in our actions and how we live life and with our money and with our resources. So our love is to be tuned to the love of God. The love that God has showed us, we are to show to one another. Thirdly, love is continuous. We see this in John's writings in verses 19 through 23. Love is continuous. But you ask, love is not continuous with humans, with fellow humans, with brothers and sisters in Christ in this world right now amongst us. We fail. husbands and wives and children to parents, and then amongst all of us as a community, we fail in what we do. We don't always live up to the perfect love of God. We don't always love one another as God would command us to love. But God does love us with a steadfast love. His love is perfectly continuous. John writes, by this we shall know that we are of the truth, and we assure our hearts before him. This is how we will know that we are in the truth. And John is mixing, he is changing out truth for love, because they are the same thing. They are of the same character, as they flow from God. They are two characteristics and aspects of God, but they come from the same source. So truth and love be from us to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and that's how we show that we are in God, and that we walk in the truth, that we have love for one another. By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and we have assurance that we are in God because we love one another. And then John writes, this self-examination that we should all look at. In verse 20, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Our heart will condemn us. We do sin. We don't perfectly love our brothers and sisters in Christ in different aspects of our life. We do sin by not loving them perfectly. Should we self-examine our life as what John is calling us to? Examine our hearts. What sin lies within us that is hindering us from loving our brothers and sisters, our fellow Christians? If there is anything in our heart, we should repent and turn to Christ, turn to God with a humble, repentant heart. If our heart does condemn us, God is greater than our heart. He's given us the gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Spirit, who cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He shows us His perfect love. By His forgiveness, we are to love others. We are to love others unconditionally, to forgive them, just as God has forgiven us. But in our society, in our society of self-love, we fall into that trap of loving ourselves versus loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. This spirit of the age of self-love, as we love our own desires and our own wants and our own possessions versus that of God. John is saying, if we do love ourselves, we are under condemnation. We are not obeying God's commandments to love one another. We are loving ourselves with our own desires and our own affections. The John is saying, do not love yourselves. Love God and love others. And so do we. We have confidence before God in our prayers, in our worship. As we pray before the Father, that sin doesn't hinder our prayers, but we fully repent and come to God in prayer. He writes this in verses 21 and 22. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him. because we keep His commandments and do what Jesus did. When we love God with all of our heart, when we repent of our sins, we can with confidence pray to God, a God of love, and He will hear us. We're praying within His will, within His pleasure, and He will hear our prayers. Jesus says, ask in my name, I will hear you. So with that humble heart, with a loving heart for one another, we can pray with confidence. Brothers and sisters, you can pray with confidence to God, the God of love, that He would give you more and more love to show to others. We lack the love for one another. We have to ask God according to His will. So in verse 23, John sums up all that he's been teaching us in these verses, from verses 10 to verse 23, about love. And he's going to talk more about love in this letter. He somewhat sums it up by saying, and this is the commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us. He's modeling this off of the Ten Commandments. The first four, love for God. The last six, love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The command that Jesus gave us, we love God with all of our heart, with all of our affection, with all of our minds, and we love others. John is saying, this commandment is one for you. You can't separate that commandment from loving God and loving our brothers. That's why the scripture says, you can't say that you love God and hate your brother, you're walking in darkness. This is one commandment, John writes, to love God and to love one another. So John is painting this picture, this beautiful example of God's love, sending his son, and so doing, we are to love one another. Brothers and sisters, friends tonight, I don't know what's in your mind or what you're thinking about regarding the love and community of God of this congregation, of other congregations, but is there a love that you are not showing that you need to show to your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you lacking love for others in this congregation and other congregations? And John is calling us to examine our hearts. We might not have anything to repent of, but do we have anything to repent of? But we're not fully loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have hatred for a brother or sister, for a fellow believer. And if we do, we're walking in that same example of pain. Children of God, we're not to love the world. We're not to love ourselves, but we're to love God and love others. So as we examine ourselves, as we pray to the Father as children of God, we're to love one another. This commandment isn't optional. It's rooted in the covenant-keeping God that continually loves us. So this is why John, back in the Gospel, writes what Jesus told his disciples in John 15. He's telling them that the Passover is about to show them the greatest love that any human has shown any other, that Jesus would lay down his life for his people, give up himself, all of himself, as the God of man, to redeem his people. This is what John writes in John 15. Jesus says, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants. The servant does not know what his pastor is doing. But I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you. so that we will love one another. Brothers and sisters, we are to love one another, as Christ has commanded us. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, God of love, we pray that you would soften our hearts, our sinful hearts that often wander. We fall into hatred toward you. Your children, your brothers and sisters, are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we repent of Nephilim. We repent of not loving with the love that you have shown us, that we are commanded to love. Father, renew our hearts. Cause us to love you with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our strength. To love the brothers and sisters that you have given us in our community, that we rub shoulders with, in your providentially placed in this congregation and other congregations. Father, be with us. We know that you have loved us perfectly by sending your Son, and giving us your Spirit, the Spirit that glows amongst us, that is within us, that we should not grieve by hating your brothers, just like Cain hated his brother. We are to love one another, as your word commands us. And as we walk in love, we are becoming more and more the image of Christ, the one that perfectly loved the Father. You loved Him. Father, you command us to love one another. We pray that you give us that ability, that heart, that desire to do that. We pray all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now I'm going to turn to Psalters, Psalm 133, Selection A. Psalm 133, Selection A. This psalm speaks of the unity of love amongst brothers. popular song that we sing about the unity that we have in God, that we show to one another. This is actually close to the end of the Psalms of Ascent. As David writes in Psalm 122, as he wrote this psalm, 133, he is calling us today, the psalmist, God is calling us to love one another, to love the unity of the church. David cries out, like John cried out, behold, how very good it is, a pleasant thing to see, when brothers and sisters join to live as one in peace and unity. Love and unity. Live in unity and live in love. And then the beautiful picture of this. And David in Psalms, he's saying, and God is telling us, that with our own ability and strength as humans, we can't do this. This is impossible that the mist would come down all the way from the mountains, the Mount Hermon, all the way to Jerusalem. This is an impossibility with our own strength. With the strength of the Spirit, the love of God, we can love one another. We have unity. amongst believers. And it's beautiful. It's a fragrance, just like the fragrance that was poured upon Aaron, flowed down that bloody, vicious water. And so when we are to love one another, that's supposed to flow out of us as a river and create this beautiful picture of the church in love and unity. So let's begin to sing Psalm 133, Selection A, with all of our hearts. Before our very eyes, how pleasantly to see when brothers join together as one in peace and unity. Yes, it is like a precious gold ♪ Which running down the Maryland's pier ♪ ♪ Upon its garb had spread ♪ ♪ It is as though Mount Vernon's dew ♪ ♪ On Zion's hills descends ♪ ♪ For there the Lord be spoken near ♪ Please remain standing. A couple of things I wanted to just mention by way of a reminder. First of all, a reminder, a number of us are going to be heading off to the Iowa Family Team to speak. Please remember them as well. Also, I did want to remind us that our fellowship luncheon is next week. And I don't think this was in the bulletin, but we're going to plan after the luncheon to hear from our youth fellowship, those who attended the Stillwater Honors. So if you guys would be ready to share with us after lunch next week, that would be great. All right, let's conclude. Father in heaven, thank you for a good Saturday. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity that we have had as the Visible Church today to see a new elder reign and install in this congregation. Lord, we ask your blessing upon Kyle and upon Lee Finn. Lord, we thank you for the rest that we've been able to have and enjoy today. We pray that, Lord, it might strengthen us to be diligent in our service to you and to our neighbors. Lord, we pray that you would bless those who are in need. Lord, just to remind you here, while the wedding was moving this week, we asked for your blessing there. Lord, as Abby goes in for surgery, Lord, we would pray your blessing upon Debbie Coley in a particular way this week. Lord, remember those who are sick and in need, and those who are homebound and haven't been with us for quite some time. We ask, Lord, that you would help us to be your servants, doing the will of God for our hearts. and now receive God's blessing upon you. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and cause His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you, and may He lift up the light of His countenance upon you, and give you peace, now and forever. Amen. So, th th My children have never been in a game before. At least not. This will be our temple forever and ever. The city's a great city, but there's something about it that's a little bit funny. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's a great city. If you've never been out of town, you'll never trust this wall now. It's a little bit, yeah, it's a little bit creepy. It's still recording. Okay. That's good. I don't know. th th The question I have is whether or not a zillion years from now, the sun will rise. Hey, thanks. It's a good day. I believe I know this guy. Oh, yeah. Just go back to my office.