I have read this chapter many times in your hearing, but we cannot read it too often, for it is full of the deepest and most important instruction. God grant that fresh light from above may shine upon it as we listen once more to the familiar words!
1 John 3:1. Behold,
If you never used your eyes to good purpose before, use them so now:
1 John 3:1. What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
Let the truth of our adoption amaze us, the adoption of such unworthy ones as we were to so high a relationship «that we should be called the sons of God.»
1 John 3:1. Therefore the world knoweth not, because it knew him not.
There is no need to say to whom this last sentence refers; the pronoun «Him» is quite sufficient to indicate our Lord Jesus whom the world knew not. Every living, loving heart must at once have thought of «Him» who is the chief, the firstborn, the only-begotten Son of God.
1 John 3:2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
It is enough to make the lame man leap as the hart to hear that blessed statement, and to know it to be true.
1 John 3:2. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
In proportion to our view of Christ is our likeness to him. Those who never saw him are not like him at all; those who have in a measure seen him are in a measure like him, they who see him as he is are like him. There is a transforming power about the image of Christ when it is seen by the soul: «We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.»
1 John 3:3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Discouragement and despair will not purify you, doubt and darkness will only make you worse than you were before; but the indulgence of this blessed hope that you are to be like Christ will help you to purify yourself, «even as he is pure.» Therefore, beloved, have hope in God. Remember that it is one of Satan's tricks and snares to try to discourage you, but it is God's will to increase your hope, for thereby you increase in purity.
1 John 3:4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
This is the best definition of sin that can be given; let none of us ever tolerate any other idea of sin but that it is «the transgression of the law.»
1 John 3:5-6. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
That is to say, if sin is the habitual course of our life, we do not truly know the Lord. He who walks with God endeavors with all his might to be free from sin, and he is sanctified by abiding in Christ.
1 John 3:7. Little children, let no man deceive you:
Because you are little, you are apt to be deceived. There is a great blessedness in being little children, but there is also some danger connected with such a condition, so we must beware of those who would deceive us.
1 John 3:7. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
The test of a man's real character must be what he does, not what he professes; not what he boasts of, but what is really the manner of his life.
1 John 3:8-9. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
He sinneth not with any pleasure, it is not the course of his life. There are, alas! in the best of men, infirmities and imperfections and failures. Would God these were all removed! Still, the man is not what he used to be; though he is not what he shall be, he is not what he once was.
1 John 3:10. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Holiness and love are the marks of the true child of God; and where these are not to be found, a man must not bolster himself up with any notion that salvation is his, for he is no child of God.
1 John 3:11-12. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
So that, when you see a man filled with hate and envy and malice, it is because his own life is not holy. There is no exception to this rule, true holiness and love always go together; where love is absent, holiness must be absent, too.
1 John 3:13. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
See, Cain hated Abel, and the world hates the saints. It is the very nature and spirit of the world to hate those who are not of the world.
1 John 3:14. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
Love becomes the distinguishing mark of the new life.
1 John 3:14. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
No matter though he may be outwardly religious, and may think that, by doing certain external actions, he will save himself, there is no truth at all in his religion, for the very essence of true religion is that a man lives not unto himself, but unto God, and for the good of his fellow-men.
1 John 3:15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:
He would get rid of that brother if he could, and he is therefore a murderer in spirit, for the essence of murder is not the dagger or the poison, but the desire to put out of existence or to do the utmost harm to the one who is hated. The essential element of murder lurks within the bosom of all hatred.
1 John 3:15. And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
His action is Cain-like, he is not of the chosen seed, he has not the life of God abiding in him.
1 John 3:16. Hereby perceive we the love of God,
The master-love, the chief love that ever was in this world,
1 John 3:16-19. Because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth 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.
That is still the test; truthful love proves that «we are of the truth,» children of the God of truth, and so assures and tranquillizes our hearts before him.
Our hearts shall be calm, confident, and happy before God, when we know that true love flows within them.
1 John 3:20-23. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of 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, us he gave us commandment.
Faith worketh by love, we believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, God's well-beloved and only-begotten Son and that faith leads us to love all who bear his holy name.
1 John 3:24. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
If he hath given us the Spirit of Christ, then Christ himself is in us, if he hath given us the Spirit of love, that also is the evidence that Christ himself abideth in us. Oh, for more of that blessed Spirit in every one of us!