1 John 3:16-24

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to be looking at the end of 1 John chapter 3. But before we do that, I want to actually do a little bit of show and tell. I've talked about this drawing a whole bunch of times and I was It's about the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And I wrote to the widow of this pastor. His name was Steve Miller. And it's this whole cool outline on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And so it's three different branches. It's a super cool diagram of the structure of the catechism.
And she was sweet enough that I was just seeing if she still had it, if there was a way to get my hands on it or buy it. And I got this tube in the mail with that and a copy of his handwritten notes explaining the diagram. Super, super awesome. So I was stoked about that. Just wanted to share with you guys. So Jane Miller, if you happen to be watching this, thank you so much.
All right. Well, why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for this day. What a joy it is to get to read Your Word. It is sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. Thank You, God, for the blessing it is. And Father, we pray that Your Spirit would please help us as we read it. Lord, that we would know what to believe and that Your Spirit would work in our hearts in such a way that we would actually live it out. Thank you for who you are, and thank you for the work you do in us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. We are at 1 John, chapter three, and we'll be looking at 16 through the end of the chapter.
By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that 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. Now he who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. Well, we need to ask ourselves our A, B, Cs. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? What's this about?
Well, verses 15 through 17, by this we know that he laid down his life for us. Verses, this is by this, well, what's the this? all it's what came above it right we know that we have passed from death to life whoever hates his brothers right so how do we know love or do we love our brothers that's that whole section that was going before this and but what's that based in what's it what's rooted in what's really what jesus did right jesus is the one who told john when he told him that It's love that has none greater than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus gave his life for John. John saw what love looked like on that cross when he stood with Jesus' mother, Mary. As he was dying for the sins of the world, dying for John's sins, he knew that was love, a sacrificial love. And so he goes, because he laid down his own life for us, that's how we know love. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. John is saying, I want to follow after Jesus' footsteps, because that's what being a Christian looks like. That's what abiding in Christ looks like.
And he goes really nitty gritty here, right? But whoever has this world's goods, the root word for this is like bios, right? The things of this world, the physical, tangible stuff of this life, and sees his brother in need, and he shuts up his heart from him, how's the love of God abide in one like that? This is a real tough one.
I think this is how Jesus was pointing out to the rich, young ruler, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God? Honor your mother and father, do not steal, all these things. All these I've done from my youth, but what do I still lack? Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
And he walked away sad because he had much wealth. We, especially for us who are in the West, live very, very comfortable lives. It's really hard. It's really hard to not become materialistic. It's really hard to not hold on to our rights about these things, and we worked so hard for this stuff, and I realize that God has given us work to do, to labor with our hands, not so we can accumulate all the wealth in the world, not so we can selfishly serve ourselves, but so we can give to those who are in need. Now there's a bunch of different ways you do this, and remember we talked about before, right? We can't just give indiscriminately to everybody our entire paycheck, nor do I think that this is forcing all of us to take vows of poverty. What are we loving others?
He who does not provide for his own house is worse than an infidel. I have experienced and seen families where fathers took this too far and would readily pay for other people's rents. But their children, their own children, would have duct-taped shoes. I'm not saying you need to put the most latest, you know, when I was growing up, you know, Air Jordans on their feet or something. I'm not saying that, but I've watched somebody take this a little bit too far.
And their children resented their father and resented the faith as well, because they didn't think they could ask their father for good things. And it's also we live in a world that's far different than what John lived in, where you have all the world shoved in front of your face right now. Go on YouTube, turn on the television. I mean, I get messages on WhatsApp every single day from extremely poor Christians around the world. I'd bankrupt myself and my children wouldn't have anything to eat.
And so what do we do? Well, we do what they did in the book of Acts. When the prophets went up and they told the people up in Antioch that, hey, there's going to be a famine down in Judah, what did they do? Each one gave as they were able to. We give according to our means. And after that, we entrust it to the Lord.
But if you see your brother in need, especially the one who's right in front of your face, you can see him. and you shut up your heart. You know, I love this stuff more than I love you. It's just a piercing hard question, what has love of God abide in one like that? It's really hard. You might scrimp, you might save, you might ward your tail off. But do you love? Jesus did all those things and poured out his life as a ransom for the many.
He says, my little children, let us not love the world. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed in truth. It's no different than what James says in his book that we did a few months earlier. Which one of you can see his brother? lacking food arraignment and say oh the lord bless you right hey god bless you i'll be praying for you and you tell them and they leave and you didn't actually give them anything you didn't actually care for them that's not true faith it's not faith that's a dead faith without works and faith without works is dead right and so he's no no no right john's saying don't don't just love in word or in tongue but indeed in truth It's going to be an imposition to you.
I'm telling you it's going to be hard. You know this. You know this if you've been a Christian for any length of time. And by this we know that we are in the truth. We are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him. Now this is interesting. I love this verse. This is what's underlined in my Bible. I'm just going to let you know. Not because it summarizes it, but because I need this. For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
See, there are going to be times when you're not going to feel like you've given enough. There may come time in your life where you think, man, God, I can't. This guy is asking me to help him with this, and these needs are right in front of me, but my own children don't have enough food, or there's education, or I've got these bills coming, and Lord, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I trust you. I'm going to love my family, I'm going to try to give what I can, but Lord, my heart comes down because am I loving this world too much? Thank God there is one greater than our hearts. Thank God Jesus Christ is with us. Our hearts may condemn us, but God knows all things.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence towards God. And when we have confidence towards God, we can ask with clear conscience. We can go to Him, know He hears us, and we abide in Him. How do we know we abide in Him? We keep His commandments.
When we bear good fruit, we abide in Jesus. And abiding in Jesus makes us bear good fruit, and that assures us that we're abiding in Jesus, right? I know it's circular, but that's how it works. When we look at our lives and we see good fruit, we go, man, that's amazing. I must be abiding in Jesus. Right? Because your good fruits don't come from your good heart.
No, it comes from the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in our hearts. And that's the whole point of verse 24. Now, He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in Him, and by this we know that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us. See, that's what the Spirit is doing, comforting us, applying the works of Jesus to us, and molding us and shaping us, sanctifying us to love more, to love better, to love more genuinely. So, what's this section about?
Faith looks like love, and love looks like practically loving. Not just in word or in tongue, but in deeds and truth. But it's not a perfect test, because our hearts can still condemn us, and so we go back to Christ. We trust in Him. And it produces more fruits. So this is full sanctification here. Full assurance happening here. It's a blessing. It's a struggle. Because that's what the Christian life is. Trying to love as he first loved us. I think there's plenty here. For a sea calling, I don't think I need to beat a dead horse. Let's go ahead and let's pray.
Father, we thank you. that you have so demonstrated your love toward us, and that while we were undeserving, wretched, stinky, wallowing in our filth, sinners, for some mysterious reason, you decided to love us. And Christ died for us. for our sins. Lord, we thank you that you didn't hold anything back, but you so loved the world that you sent your only Son, that whoever should believe in Him might be saved, have everlasting life. Thank you for sending your Son. Thank you for sending your Spirit in our hearts. God, we pray that we would indeed bear good fruit as we abide in your Son and as he abides in us. Lord, we pray that we would be generous, truly loving our brothers. Thank you. Help us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus. May his spirit be applied to your heart more and more. I'll see you next time. Bye.