We Love As Christ Loves Us | 1 John 3:11-16

Turn in your Bibles to 1 John 3:11.

Do y’all remember the passage of Cain and Abel? That passage is going to be the story of our message tonight. We’re going to use that story to diagnose what John is saying here in 1 John 3.

Let’s do a quick synopsis of the story of Cain and Abel, then we’ll dive into 1 John.

The story of Cain and Abel is in Genesis 4. In the previous chapter of Genesis, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden for their sin against God. After they are banished, Eve gives birth to two sons. One’s name is Cain and the other is Abel.

Genesis 4:2–7 (NLT)

… When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground (so he was a farmer). 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

In verses 8 and 9, we see that Cain was so jealous of his brother that he killed him.

Everyone tracking with that story? Alright, let’s dive into 1 John

1 John 3:11–16 NLT

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. 16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

This is the message…

Tonight we are starting the second part of 1 John. Let me explain what I mean by that.

The first thing John writes in this passage is, “This is the message…” Which seems like just added words for emphasis, but those four words are very important for us to understand the structure of the book of 1 John.

Do y’all remember our common theme that we’ve been talking about in the book of 1 John? (God is light)

In the very first chapter of 1 John in verse 5 it says,

1 John 1:5 NLT

5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

What are the first four words in that verse? “This is the message…” These words are only said twice in the book of 1 John. Once in chapter 1 and again where we are now in chapter 3. These two instances of this phrase splits the book of 1 John into two parts. The first part is about God being light. The second part is about how we should love one another. 1 John 4:8 even says that God IS love. So you could say the first part of 1 John is about God being light and the second part is about God being love.

Y’all tracking with that? What is the first part of 1 John about? (God is light) What is the second part of 1 John about? (God is love)

So tonight we are starting the second part of this book. And it is all about love.

And we see in the start of this second part a clear distinction between love and hate. We see the definition of love and the definition of hate in this passage.

We only have two main points tonight. The first is that the world hates, and the second is that God loves.

1. The world hates. (vv. 12-15)

2. God loves. (vv. 11; 16)

Application: We love as Christ loves.