1 John 3:11

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 100
• Hymn — All People That on Earth Do Dwell (#100b)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 42
• Hymn of the Month — The Apostles' Creed (#560)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 John 3:11–24
• Sermon
• Hymn — O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (#463)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: Love Is All You Need

Scripture: 1 John 3:11–24

I. Love One Another Knowing the Distinction Founded by Love

(verses 11–18)

A. The passage is framed by the command "love one another" — stated in 1 John 3:11 and 1 John 3:23, and echoed as an imperative in 1 John 3:18

B. The hating way of Cain — 1 John 3:12; Genesis 4

1. Cain and Abel each brought offerings; God regarded Abel's but not Cain's
2. Hebrews 11 explains Abel's offering as offered in faith; no faith of Cain is mentioned
3. John identifies the root cause: Cain "was of the evil one" — his deeds were evil while Abel's were righteous
4. Cain's hatred, nursed and allowed to fester, resulted in murder
5. Cain serves as a pattern for the unbelieving world — those who go on hating their brother abide in death (1 John 3:14–15)
6. Jesus teaches that murder begins in the heart; ongoing hatred makes one a murderer in his heart

C. Application from the way of Cain: do not be surprised when the world hates you (1 John 3:13)

1. Death hates life; the way of Cain and the way of Christ are of completely distinct stuff
2. The world's hatred of believers follows the same pattern as Cain's hatred of righteous Abel
3. Jesus himself said they will hate you because they hated him first

D. The loving way of Christ — 1 John 3:16

1. Seven words define love: "He laid down his life for us"
2. Whereas Cain rose up to murder his brother, Christ laid down his life for another
3. Christ's love is not merely a model to imitate — it is first a means, the instrument that energizes loving activity in his people
4. We can love because God loved us first; his love gives life and produces love in return

E. Application from the way of Christ: love others like him (1 John 3:17–18)

1. Love begins with seeing — attentiveness to the pressing physical and spiritual needs of brothers and sisters
2. Having seen, Christlike love acts; it does not close the heart against a brother in need
3. Love is expressed not only materially but in encouraging words and any act that eases another's suffering
4. John Stott: love seeks the other person's good even to the point of self-sacrifice
5. Calvin: willingness in small acts of love prepares us for greater acts; the one who will not meet basic needs is unprepared for heroic sacrifice
6. Small acts of love are like drill weekends — keeping us sharp, fit, and ready

II. Love One Another Knowing the Destination Fortified by Love

(verses 19–24)

A. Loving in truth connects the believer to the truth of God and brings reassurance of heart (1 John 3:19)

1. The fruit is evidence of the vine on which it grows — one who keeps God's commandments (love of God and neighbor) shows that he abides in God
2. John calls us to inward self-examination: examine the heart to see the evidence of love growing there

B. The goal is confidence before God — but confidence is not built on the quality or quantity of our love (1 John 3:20–21)

1. When the heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows everything
2. Knowing the depths of our sin and our failure to love, God still sent his Son as the propitiation for our sins
3. The Spirit drives us again and again back to Christ and to his love: "He laid down his life for us"
4. Final assurance rests on Christ's merits alone applied to our account — his love bears all the weight of salvation; our love bears none of it
5. Stott: our love is an accessory — a prop or inferior aid to faith, not a foundation on which it rests
6. Small evidences of love's growth give us some degree of certainty that we have passed out of death into life (1 John 3:14)

C. Confidence before God overflows into confident prayer (1 John 3:22)

1. As the Spirit works a new will in us — willing after the will of God — we ask according to his will and receive
2. The destination is assurance from God, fortified by the imperfect love growing upon the vine of Christ's perfect love

D. The command and its assurance summarized (1 John 3:23–24)

1. His commandment: believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another
2. The one who keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him
3. We know he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us