We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.
13 sermons cite this verse
… John wrote in 1 John 3, 14, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. And whoever does not love abides in death. now how do we love the brethren it's all put out so well in question 107 it tells us that with all of our being we're to seek to do good to one another in all patience peacefulness meekness mercy and kindness this is the same love that god shows to each of us every day we must seek one another spiritual and material welfare at the expense of our own Paul reminds us of that in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10. He says, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. I hear more and more from different ones that they come to Christ's covenant, that they sense that there's a spirit of love that makes them feel welcome here in our church. and many of you invite these visitors and first timers and folks that don't come on a regular basis to join in with the fellowship of the Bible studies, of the men's groups of the covenant groups, of the Sunday schools reaching out to others with the love of Christ we must so love our brethren that we are willing to lay down our lives for them. John again tells us by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. …
and shuts up his heart from him, that literally could be translated, stops the fluttery feeling in his guts. Part of the way God leads us is through a fluttery feeling in our stomach that shows us, hey, this is an action I want you to take. You feel your emotions most pronounced, not in your heart, but in your guts. It's that rollercoaster feeling. It's that I love you feeling. It's that compassionate feeling. The Bible would say about Jesus often, based on his guts churning, he would preach to the people. Based on his gut, splenkinizomai is the word. That's a perfect word for that. Splenkinizomai. It means your stomach gets all messed up, and that's part of the way the Holy Spirit leads us. But if you feel that but don't do anything and don't do anything for your brother, how does the love of God abide in you? How is it you can say you love God if you shut that feeling down every time it happens? My little children, let us not just love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. …
"Let others choose the sons of mirth To give a relish to their wine. I love the men of heavenly birth, Whose thoughts and language are Divine. Do you, dear Friends find rest in the company of God's chosen people? The ungodly do not. If some gracious person should go to their house and begin talking about the mysteries of the Cross, their impatient glances at the clock would soon show that such a theme was a weariness to them. When they go up to the place where God's people meet, to worship Him, the shorter the service is the better they like it! And the reason is that they do not savingly know the Lord. A man without sight would not be likely to be very much charmed in a picture gallery. And a man who was stone-deaf would not be very delighted with the grandest oratorio that was ever performed! In like manner, we cannot expect that those who have no spiritual sense can find delight in the company of God's people. But how different it is with the man who is really saved! He can say, with David, of the saints that are in the earth, that they are "the excellent, in whom is all my delight." A good old saint, whom I went to see on her dying bed, said to me, "It always gives me comfort, Sir, to think that God is not likely to send me to dwell with the wicked, for I never liked their society here. I believe He will let me go with my own company and I have always kept company with His people since I have learned to know Him." I assured her that I believed it would be so. It is a sign of Grace when we find rest with those who are really spiritual because they are spiritual. You may love some saints of God, yet it may be no sign of Grace on your part—there may be something specially lovable about them so that you cannot help loving them or you may have received some temporal kindness from them and, therefore, love them for purely natural reasons. But it is a very different matter when we can say, with John— "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Some of us can truthfully declare that our happiest hours are those that we expound with the saints of God! And we can fully sympathize with Dr. Watts when he says— …
Now, Beloved, do you realize that God has worked this great miracle of mercy in you? Does your spirit bear witness that you are now a child of God When you go out of this building and look up at the stars, will you say to yourself, "My Father made them all"? Will you feel that you must talk to your Father? And when you go to your bed tonight, should you lie sleepless, will you begin to think of your heavenly Father as naturally as a little child, when it lies awake in the dark, thinks of its mother and calls to her? If you are a true Believer, this is the case with you. The Spirit of adoption is given to you by which you are enabled to cry, "Abba, Father." Do you not also know what it is, sometimes, when you are sitting down quietly by yourself, to think, "The God who made the heavens and the earth, and who upholds all things by the Word of His Father, is my Father"? Then very likely a flood of tears will come as you stand silently before the Lord just as the lilies do, for at times there is no form of worship that seems possible to our joyous spirit except standing still and letting the love of the heart silently breathe itself out before the Lord like the fragrance of flowers ascending in a gentle breeze. In such a frame of mind as that, your spirit may well bear witness that you are a child of God! …
But our heart does not condemn us about some things. For instance, we ask, "Are we really sincere in our profession of religion?" and our conscience answers, "Yes, we do not make a profession of religion in order to gain by it, nor because it makes us respectable, nor because it brings us comfort and ease. God knows that we do it because we cannot help doing it! We love Christ and we must take sides with Him and unless we are utterly deceived, we are sincere in saying that we are followers of Christ." I am putting these words into the mouths of those of you who really feel that you ought to utter them. And I trust that each one of you will join me in saying, "I am a poor lost sinner, but I do trust in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I do hang upon Him as the only Savior. And if that is the faith that saves the soul, I certainly have exercised it. I have no reliance on any ceremony, or any doctrine, or anything that I can do, or feel, or say, or be— nothing but the crucified, risen and glorified Christ is my confidence." Beloved, that is one thing in which our heart does not condemn us! And then, it is the same when we can add, "With all our imperfections, we feel that we do love God's people and we do love our feelowmen. We desire to relieve their distresses as far as we can. And as much as lies in us, we desire to promote the happiness and comfort of others." If a man cannot say this, he cannot claim to be a Christian because any man who lives for himself is no more a Christian than the devil is! The first objective of the Christian is to glorify God. And the next objective is to make other people happy. Those who never study other people in the household, but are selfish and let their narrow soul be confined within their own ribs, have nothing about them in common with a real Christian. If a man truthfully says, "I love others and I especially love the saints of God," then he may say that his conscience does not condemn him. I am not saying this on my own authority. Let me turn your attention to a few of the verses preceding our text, reading from the 14th verse—"We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death...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. But whoever has this world's good and sees his brother has need and shuts up his heart of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him." You see, this is the very evidence that God gives—that by our love to others, our hearts will be assured before Him and we shall have confidence concerning our own relationship towards God. …
I choose Him in return." Then faith also works by love to the Brothers and Sisters. A man has no faith if he does not love faithful men. It is a mark of the child of God that he loves the rest of the family. "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren"—not only the brethren who happen to be called by our denominational name—that is very easy! A hypocrite can do that—but all the saints! Whenever, as St. Basil used to say, we can see anything of Christ, there we ought to give something of Christian love, so that genuine faith loves all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and desire the good and prosperity of all the branches of the vine. And, mark you, this faith will work by love, even to your enemies! If you are a genuine Christian, you will love those who do not love you. It is very little to love our own relatives, though there are some who do not do even that. But to love our enemies is the mark of a true Christian—to be prepared to bear and to forbear, to endure, but never to inflict, to be reviled, but not to answer, not to rebuke, but to heap coals of fire upon the head of our foes by endeavoring to do all that we can for the good of those who do us ill. It was said of Thomas Cranmer, "Do my lord of Canterbury an ill turn and he will be your friend and give you help." And it was said of another, that if you wanted to get a favor from him, the best thing you could do was to do him an injury, because then, when you asked him for anything, he was quite certain to say, "I will do it for you because you have been my enemy." Let us seek for something of the same spirit! Let us love even those who are unlovable and who love us not. …
2. With regard to the latter, the foundation thereof is laid in those numerous texts of Scripture which describe the marks of the children of God; and that so plain, that he which runneth may read them. These are also collected together, and placed in the strongest light, by many both ancient and modern writers. If any need farther light, he may receive it by attending on the ministry of God’s Word; by meditating thereon before God in secret; and by conversing with those who have the knowledge of his ways. And by the reason or understanding that God has given him, which religion was designed not to extinguish, but to perfect; — according to that of the Apostle, “Brethren, be not children in understanding; in malice” or wickedness “be ye children; but in understanding be ye men;” (1 Cor. 14:20; ) — every man applying those scriptural marks to himself, may know whether he is a child of God. Thus, if he know, First, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God,” into all holy tempers and actions, “they are the sons of God;” (for which he has the infallible assurance of holy writ;) Secondly, I am thus “led by the Spirit of God;” he will easily conclude, — “Therefore I am a son of God.” 3. Agreeable to this are all those plain declarations of St. John, in his First Epistle: “Hereby we know that we do know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3.) “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; Hereby know we that we are in him;” that we are indeed the children of God. (1 John 2:5.) “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.” (1 John 2:29.) “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14) “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him;” namely, because we “love one another not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, because he hath given us of his” loving “Spirit.” (1 John 4:13.) And, “hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the” obedient “spirit which he hath given us.” (1 John 3:24.) …
2. And, in this sense also, “every one who loveth him that begat, loveth him that is begotten of him.” (1 John 5:1.) His spirit rejoiceth in God his Saviour. He “loveth the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” He is so “joined unto the Lord,” as to be one spirit. His soul hangeth upon Him, and chooseth Him as altogether lovely, “the chiefest among ten thousand.” He knoweth, he feeleth what that means, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” (Song 2:16.) “Thou art fairer than the children of men; full of grace are thy lips, because God hath anointed thee for ever!” (Psalm 45:2.) 3. The necessary fruit of this love of God is the love of our neighbour; of every soul which God hath made; not excepting our enemies; not excepting those who are now “despitefully using and persecuting us;” — a love whereby we love every man as ourselves; as we love our own souls. Nay, our Lord has expressed it still more strongly, teaching us to “love one another even as He hath loved us.” Accordingly, the commandment written in the hearts of all those that love God, is no other than this, “As I have loved you, so love ye one another.” Now, “herein perceive we the love of God, in that he laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16.) “We ought,” then, as the Apostle justly infers, “to lay down our lives for the brethren.” If we feel ourselves ready to do this, then do we truly love our neighbour. Then “we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we” thus “love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14.) “Hereby know we” that we are born of God, that we “dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his” loving “Spirit.” (1 John 4:13.) For “love is of God; and every one that” thus “loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (1 John 4:7.) …
III. 1. One would imagine such a person as has been above described, so full of genuine humility, so unaffectedly serious, so mild and gentle, so free from all selfish design, so devoted to God, and such an active lover of men, should be the darling of mankind. But our Lord was better acquainted with human nature in its present state. He therefore closes the character of this man of God with showing him the treatment he is to expect in the world. “Blessed,” saith he, “are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 2. In order to understand this throughly, let us, First, inquire, Who are they that are persecuted? And this we may easily learn from St. Paul: “As of old, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.”(Gal. 4:29.) “Yea,” saith the Apostle, “and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12.) The same we are taught by St. John: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:13–14.) As if he had said, The brethren, the Christians, cannot be loved, but by them who have passed from death unto life. And most expressly by our Lord: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:18.) …
5. Let us, First, consider, what it is which the Apostle here means by the world. He does not here refer to this outward frame of things, termed in Scripture, heaven and earth; but to the inhabitants of the earth, the children of men, or at least, the greater part of them. But what part? This is fully determined both by our Lord himself, and by his beloved disciple. First, by our Lord himself. His words are, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And all these things will they do unto you, because they know not him that sent me.” (John 15:18.) You see here “the world” is placed on one side, and those who “are not of the world” on the other. They whom God has “chosen out of the world,” namely, by “sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth,” are set in direct opposition to those whom he hath not so chosen. Yet again: Those “who know not him that sent me,” saith our Lord, who know not God, they are “the world.” 6. Equally express are the words of the beloved disciple: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you: We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:13, 14.) As if he had said, “You must not expect any should love you, but those that have ‘passed from death unto life.’” It follows, those that are not passed from death unto life, that are not alive to God, are “the world.” The same we may learn from those words in the fifth chapter, verse 19, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one.” [1 John 5:19] Here “the world” plainly means, those that are not of God, and who, consequently “Lie in the wicked one.” …
Our business is to preach Jesus Christ—and if we cannot preach Him, let us take to tailoring, or plowing, or cobbling, or some other honest way of earning one's livelihood! To preach anything else but Christ crucified is to betray our Lord and Master! And most assuredly to bring upon ourselves confusion and condemnation in the Last Great Day of account! Dear Brothers, may we have given to us the spirit of discrimination that we may know the precious from the vile, for if we do so as preachers we shall be as God's mouth! And may we as hearers have the same discrimination, that we may always be able to receive that which is of God, and to reject at once with solemn determination that which is according to the spirit of the world and not after Jesus Christ! VI. I pass on from that form of knowledge to another, which is this—knowledge in this Epistle is frequently meant ASSURANCE in opposition to anxiety. That is the frequent use of the term, here, as in the Second Chapter, the third to the eighth verses—"Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He that says, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But whoso keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." Then in the 14th verse of the Third Chapter—"We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." In the 24th verse—"Hereby we knowthat He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us." Far too seldom do Christians reach this point. They should do so and they should come up the ladder by the steps I have described, but many seem to think that it is almost necessary for them to always say most timorously, "I hope I am in Christ. I trust I am saved." They dare not say, "I know that I am in Him, and that His Spirit is in me." …
Christian love also embraces the Truths of God. They that love God and His Divine Son, love the Truth which He has committed to them. The Church is the trustee of the Gospel—she is "the pillar and ground of the Truth." And when men begin to play with the Truth of God and think that one set of Doctrines is as good as another, and that nothing is of any particular importance, evil must come! In former days our fathers counted it a small thing to go to prison for a Doctrine, or to be burnt to death for a testimony! Look at the multitudes in Holland who were drowned, or who were tied to ladders and roasted to death for nothing but their conviction that Believers should be baptized! Nowadays, people consider Scriptural views of Baptism to be a mere trifle. I question whether our present Broad Churchmen think that there is any Doctrine worth a person's losing the first joint of his little finger for! As to burning to death for a Truth of God— that must seem a great absurdity to these liberal theologians! Now that things have reached this pass, need we wonder that heresies and all manner of errors rush in torrents down our streets? When she can afford to trifle with the Truths of God, what is the Church worth? Our love is also love to our fellow Christians. This is a vital principle. "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." But when members of Churches have no love to one another. When a professor does not care at all what becomes of his Brothers and Sisters, has the Church any Christianity left? No, it has a name to live, and is dead! Christianity is gone when the heart is cold—its very life is mutual affection. …
"Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge."—Psalm 14:6. GOD'S Word divides the whole human race into two portions. There is the seed of the serpent, and the seed of the woman—the children of God, and the children of the devil—those who are by nature still what they always were, and those who have been begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There are many distinctions among men, but they are not much more than surface-deep. This one distinction, however, goes right through, and it is very deep. I may say that between the two classes, the saved and the unsaved, there is a great gulf fixed. There is as wide a difference between the righteous and the wicked as there is between the living and the dead. The Psalmist, David, in this particular Psalm calls one class of men fools, and another class the poor. You will observe that he begins by describing the fool, by which he does not mean one particular man. but the whole race as it is by nature—the whole of that portion of the human race that remains unregenerate. In our text he describes another class as the poor, in which he comprehends all the saved, all the godly, all the righteous, of whom our Redeemer hath said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Now from the very first, between the two seeds there has always been an enmity—an enmity which has never been mitigated, and never will. It displays itself in various ways, but it is always there. In some ages the enmity has burst forth into open persecution—Herod has sought the young child to destroy it; Haman has sought to destroy the whole generation of Israel; stakes have been erected, and the faithful have been burnt; racks and inhuman engines of cruelty have been fashioned by the art of man, through the malice of his heart, to exterminate, if it were possible, the children of the living God. For there is war—perpetually war to the knife—war ever between the two generations. At this particular time the warfare is not less bitter; but the restraints of Providence do not allow it to display itself as it once did, and it now generally takes the form of cruel mockings so that our text is as applicable to the present race as it was in David's time, "Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge." The fool bath made a mock of the righteous man, called the poor man; and this has been the subject of his mockery, that the godly man has been fool enough as he calls him, to put his trust in God, and to make this the main point and purpose of his life. There may be some here who have done this; all of us do it to some extent until we are new-born. We ridicule, if not with the tongue, yet in our heart, those who have made God their refuge, for when we begin to value the people of God, it is a sign of some degree of grace in us: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren"; but until we come into that state of grace there is a hatred or contempt, more or less developed, against those who are resting in the living God. …