Authentic Christianity #8: Opposites that Don't Attract

What we love and what we hate reveals more about us than we may realize. In this message from 1 John 3, we explore the contrast between Cain and Abel, the children of God and the children of the devil, life and death, love and hate. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and our response to Christ exposes the condition of our hearts. Are we drawn to righteousness or repelled by it? Discover how genuine faith produces a love for Christ, a love for His people, and a growing hatred for sin. 

Transcript

Well. Good morning. So this morning I want to do, begin by asking, you to think about this for a second. If you had the power to destroy anything you wanted to destroy, what would it be that you would most want to destroy? If you had the capacity to destroy just one thing. What would it be? Would you. Would you choose human tyranny and oppression and slavery? Would you want to destroy all pain and suffering or injustice? Would you want to destroy sickness, cancer? Illness? Would you want to destroy drug trafficking or crime or violence or war? What would you most want to destroy if you had the power to destroy whatever it was that you wanted to destroy? Now, notice all the things that I have listed so far where evil things. Now, the question I really want to get to is, are things people most want to destroy always evil things or to sometimes people desire to destroy what is good. From the beginning, starting with Cain and his murder of his brother Abel, some men have wanted to destroy what is righteous. What Cain most wanted to destroy was his righteous brother, Abel. Why? Why would he? Or why would anyone most want to destroy what is good? What can we know about people? And by the way, what can we know about people by what they most want to destroy? What did Jesus most want to destroy? What did Jesus come to destroy? Do we desire the destruction of what Jesus wanted to destroy and what Jesus came to destroy? Today, as we continue in our series, authentic Christianity reflecting the love of Christ. A Study of First John. We're going to be looking at this question of how can we see what we're like by what it is that we want to destroy? What is a person like or what is a person becoming like by what he hates or opposes? We can tell as much about people by what they hate as by what they love. And today, we're going to be thinking about what it is that you oppose and what that reveals about us. What bothers us the most. Are we ever bothered by what is good? Are we ever, ever bothered by what is right? Or are we ever bothered by what is just? What is it about Jesus himself that bothers so many people? You know, Jesus, is not a neutral character. You either love him or hate him. But what is it about Jesus that bothers so many people? What has he done that causes, such a positive and a negative response? What has to be true about a person to be bothered by, hate or even want to destroy what is good? Does what we hate. Correspond to what Christ hates and what is what we want to destroy? Equate the equivalent of what Christ came to destroy. What can we know about ourselves by what we hate? This morning's message is entitled opposites that don't attract. And we'll be looking at, contrasting groups of people. And we'll be recognizing the evidence of what group we're part of, by what it is that we are attracted to. And what is it that repels us? Heavenly father. Lord, we we look today at this, passage. Looking at the evidence of our being children, of God and, evidence of those who aren't. And we pray, father, that as we look at ourselves, we will see. Father, there still is a struggle within us for, that which is dark and and a desire for that which is hidden. And there is still a sin lingering in us, Lord. But we we pray, father, that we would increasingly be, disgusted by that which harms and, embrace that which heals. Lord, we look at your word today, and we ask God that it would be edifying to us as we read it and, give ourselves to it. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right. John chapter. First John chapter three, beginning at verse four. It says this. Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that a but you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to what? He came as a destroyer in a way. The reason why the reason the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue in sin because God's seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, of of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning. We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belong to the evil one and who murdered his brother. And why did he murder his brother? Because his. Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brother. If the world. My brothers. If the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no one. You know that no murderer has eternal life in him. So how do we know who we are? From the beginning, you have these two iconic, examples of Cain and Abel. And, we see in them, representations of the various various response to that, which is good, right? True. And just those who hate the righteous, are like Cain. Cain and Abel both brought sacrifices before God. And God was pleased with Abel. Abel sacrifice. And God was displeased with Cain sacrifice. And so immediately Cain began to, become angry with his brother because his brother please God, and he didn't please God. And his anger was, building up to a dangerous point. And God said to Cain, look, Cain, it's not a problem. All you have to do is humble yourself, go back and do what your brother did and please me, and everything will be fine. But Cain refused to do that. In his arrogance. He wouldn't, follow his brothers lead. Instead, his resentment towards his brother built. He hated his brother's righteousness as it reflected on his unrighteousness. And instead of repenting and doing what his brother did, he ended up murdering his brother, two brothers, one desire to please God and do what is right, and one hated being corrected. And, hated the idea that his brother's righteousness reflect on reflected on his unrighteousness and that hatred, towards what is good ended up, perpetrating, his actions into murder. These two opposites represent the opposites that we see in this text. In this text, we saw several opposites. We saw the children of God, the children of the devil. We saw sin. We saw righteousness. We saw love, we saw hate. We saw life, we saw death. We saw Jesus and we saw the devil. All these opposites that repulse each other. We're in the text. We just read, and we also read in this text that Jesus came to do what? To destroy, what to destroy the works of the devil. How do we know which side we are on in these two opposites that repulse each other? These two opposites that don't attract? That's the question I'd like us to just ponder as we think about these verses this morning. The theme of this morning's message is this that Jesus came to destroy the destroyer. Let's take a look at verse five and verse, verse eight, verse five says this, but you know that he appeared, that is Christ, so that he might take away our sin, and in him is no sin. In verse eight, he who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. He came to take away sin. He came to destroy the devil's work, to get rid of the thoughts and deeds that are within us, that violate God's law, that violate what is right, that violate what is good, that violate what is just. If we want, if we love what is good, right and just, we will correspondingly not want or we will hate what is bad, unrighteous and unjust. But the children, of the opposite, the children of the devil or the devil himself, desire. What is wrong, what is unfair, and what is evil? The work of the devil goes back to Cain and it goes back even before Cain. That first act of murder, that deed born out of what it was, born out of hating what was right. It was an action that Cain did because he hated what his the righteousness and his own brother. The devil's work is to destroy what is good, right and just. Jesus says in John 1010, the thief came only to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come to give life and give it to the full. The devil's work is to ruin things, to hurt what is good to steal, kill and destroy. And Christ has come to destroy the destroyer. Sin in this passage we see, is what ever breaks the law. The law and is God's definition of what is good, what is right, and what is just. The law is a definition of what is virtuous. The law is a definition of what. If we're good, we should not do to people, or if we're good, what we should do to people, to other people, and to God himself. The law is a picture of what is good. And Jesus came to undo, culture and and ideology and, actions that undo the law that are in themselves pure evil. And he didn't come to reason with the devil. He didn't come to, reconcile with the devil. He came to destroy the devil because the devil is committed to destroying what is good. This week I finished, the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a, Lutheran pastor in Germany during World War II who had pacifist leanings but was among the, pastors in Germany that opposed Hitler from the beginning. And, he even with his pacifist leanings, got to the point where he became part of a conspiracy. Carter, part of the conspiracy to murder Hitler, even with his pacifist leanings, because he came to realize that there's only one way to deal with this kind of evil, and that's to destroy it. There is no reasoning with it. And he ultimately ended up failing as the conspirators failed, and he was executed for his part in the conspiracy. Like five weeks before, Hitler killed himself. But he, as a man of God and even with pacifist leanings, came to realize that certain kinds of evil can't be reconciled with that must be destroyed. Christ didn't come to negotiate with the devil. He came to destroy the devil. And the first time God destroyed the evil on the earth, he destroyed the whole earth. With the exception of Noah and his family. But when Christ came to destroy the devil and the devil's work, he didn't come to destroy, sinners. He came to destroy sin. He didn't come to destroy all who had participated in wickedness. He came to destroy the principle of wickedness himself. The devil. Some sinners welcome that idea. Other sinners do not welcome that idea. Some sinners are in favor of what Christ came to do and desire to be relieved from the burden of of death, sin, and death. But others aren't in favor of what Christ came to do. They want to remain in the evil that defines their life. How do we tell those two groups apart? How do we tell those who are opposed to Christ and who, are in favor of Christ? Christ came to destroy the destroyer, and in doing so, he divides humanity. Do we, cheer him on? Are we in favor of what he came to do, or do we dislike him for what he's come to do? Verses ten through 13? Point number one is this. Those who belong to evil hate the righteous. Those who belong to evil, hate the righteous. Verses ten through 13. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you have heard from the beginning. We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belong to the evil one and who murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers. If the world hates you. If you are good and do what is right. At first it seems baffling that anyone would hate you for being a blessing. If you're doing good, and if you're virtuous and you're doing what's right, you're going to be a benefit to everyone and your sphere of influence, even those who hate what is right. In fact, you could argue that Abel was a blessing and a benefit to Cain because Abel showed Cain what God what pleased God. And Cain could have taken that example and pleased God himself. At first it seems baffling. Why would anyone hate a person who is virtuous, who does good, who does no harm? Even more baffling than that, why would anyone hate somebody who actively does good to them, not just passively does them no harm? It doesn't seem to make sense, but verse 13 tells us not to be surprised if you're in the right and you're hated for being in the right. Why would anyone hate those who bring blessings to others? Well, it's the same reason Cain hated his righteous brother Abel, because his goodness highlighted Cain's unrighteousness. Cain had a choice to humble himself and to follow his brother's example, or to resent his brother. And, let that resentment, birth the seed that brought, brought about the murder of his brother. This week, my daughter, who teaches out at Cal State, told me a story of one of her students. One of her students, came to her and was telling her about his life. And, she said that this the student remembered a time when he was 12 years old, at a family barbecue. And this student came from a particular, particularly, nefarious family. All the men are in jail, and, there they, are involved in the drug trade and involved in gangs and, you know, they they are all, living on what you could call the dark side of life. And, they were having this family barbecue where everyone was gathering, having a good time, and, one of the cousins came to the barbecue, and this particular cousin that came to the barbecue had been one that had left the, family business. So to speak, had gone off and gone to college to be trained for more legitimate pursuits. And, so he was not doing what everyone else was doing. And when he got to the, barbecue, with no provocation, this 12 year old boy remembers watching his father and all the other men in the family mercilessly beat this guy down. Why? But why did they beat him down? Well, they beat him down because they resented him. Because he was seeking a better life for himself. And that quest for something better reflected on the evil that they were doing. The world's, hatred for those who do. Well, sometimes as a result of it being a light shining on their own evil. Just like with Cain. Think about this for a second. Think about irrational hatred that's out there. Why do people hate Israel so much? What has she ever done? I mean, she sure certainly hasn't been a perfect nation, but through her, we have gotten the love of God through her great and righteous principles, have been a blessing to the whole world, through her and even through the Arab world. If you look at the history of theological thought, most of the Koran comes from Muhammad, influenced by Jews. Not. We won't argue whether the Koran is legitimate or not, but everyone would have to argue, everyone would have to agree that the heritage that comes to the Arabs through, Islam is largely Jewish by influence. Christianity is largely Jewish by influence. It it was birthed out of, the Jewish people. And we, are in agreement with the Jewish, spiritual texts. We've gotten much of, what blesses us in the organization of our own, country from, Jewish ideas. Israel has been a blessing to the world, not a perfect nation, many times hardened, stiff necked and resistant to God. But why do people hate them so much? One of the problems with modern Israel is she's so darn successful. She's she went into a little back country. Place, and she's made it prosper. It really is irritating when you look at the land that your forefathers had turned into a desert. And these people come in and they make it into a modern metropolis with all kinds of prosperity. It really bugs you. Israel's hated because she's good. She she's. Maybe she's not good in the sense ultimate good, but she's hated because of the goodness, that of God, that she reflects. America could be said to be hated for many of the same reasons. Picked apart by, not not that were perfect, but I think that when you ask, where does the hatred come from? You know, some of the charges that come against America are ridiculous. You know, we're imperialists. That is the most ridiculous charge you could imagine. We've had more power than any other country in human history, and we don't, we we don't go around subjecting other people to our sovereignty. Why or why? Why is America hated? Why is Israel hated? Well, we wouldn't be. Let me put it this way. We wouldn't be hated if we were at the same moral level of, of of gadhafi. How do people respond to Jesus himself? Think about that? In him there was no sin is what this passage says. There's nothing in Christ that is sinful. In other words, there's nothing in Christ that is disordered, evil, broken, harmful. There's only good in him. And yet, he is a man among all men, most hated by some, There's no evil in him. He came to liberate us. He came to set us free from, sin and death. And he did so at a price that was priceless. His very own life. He was the atoning sacrifice for our sin. What is there in him to hate, anyway? Yet the name of Jesus provokes both love and hate, and not much in between. How we respond to Jesus tells us a great deal about ourselves. I know, both sides of that issue because as a young man, I was a hater of Christ and he answered, fortunately, the prayers of those who petition for me and I become a lover of Christ, Jesus didn't change at all from the time I hated him. From now, the time that I love him, what changed was me. You can know what I am by what I love and by what I hate. You could tell what I was by the fact that I hated Christ. And you can tell what I am now by the fact that I love Christ. I love what is good because I love the emblematic, manifestation of all that is good and true. Jesus Christ. It's amazing. When I hated him, he didn't hate me. He hated, my hatred of him. But he didn't hate me. Jesus came to destroy the destroyer. Point number one is, those who belong to evil hate the righteous. Point number two is those who have passed from death to life. Love the righteous. Verses seven through ten and verse 14. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. Verse 14. Oh, no one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. Verse 14, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. We, along with the whole of humanity, fit into a category of having been dead. Everyone in the world, including us, have been in this category of having been dead. Some men, however, have been removed from that category and have passed out of death into life. The category of the living. Whereas others still remain in the category of the dead. How do we know which category we are in? How do we know? Well, we know by how we feel about Jesus Christ and how we feel about those who follow Jesus Christ. If we love Christ and we love his followers, we know that we are of him. If we don't like Christ, if we don't like Jesus, or we don't like those who are authentically seeking to be like him, there's a pretty good chance we have not passed out of death into life. If a person hates what Jesus is and what Jesus came to do, does that mean that there's something wrong with Jesus? No, it would mean that there's something wrong with that person. Let me try to illustrate it to you this way. Take a look at these three pictures and tell me what they all have in common. That's the first picture. Beautiful mountain scene. Snow on the ground. Glorious creation. Next picture. A, still mirror like lake. Or reflecting the beautiful mountains surrounding it. And then, a lovely, tropical scene at the beach here. What are all three of those pictures have in common? Know? Yeah, they're all beautiful. Pictures of creation. They're all, what you would say. Beautiful landscapes. What if, what if somebody came along and said, I think those things are really ugly. I think those pictures you showed, every one of them was ugly to me. They were ugly. Would you say that that person, was right? Or would you say there's something wrong with that person? When people look upon the perfect one, when they look upon Jesus and they think there's something in him to reject. Do you think there's anything wrong with Jesus? Or does it reflect something wrong about the way that person is themselves? When people think what is good is bad and, and proclaim what is right is wrong, that doesn't make them right. It doesn't make what is good or bad. It means that they haven't perceived things correctly. Dead people don't see things too clearly. And when we're spiritually dead, we don't have an accurate reflection of what is good. Right and true. We know that we have passed from death into life when we love what is worthy of love and when we reject what is evil. Some really struggle with, a portion of this passage because, in this passage, it talks about in terms of the evidence of our being with Christ. It says, like it says in verse nine, here, no one who is born of God will continue in sin, because God's seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. And when we read that, it seems like it's saying, I'm in trouble because, I know that there still sin that remains in me, and I know that I still have sinned and I have sinful desires. So does that mean that I am not of God? Is that the way you would read that? That if I sin at all, that means that I must still be of the devil, and I must still be in death, and I haven't passed from death to life. Well, if that were the meaning of this text, then John would have contradicted himself. If you remember several weeks ago, we read in John chapter one, verse eight that if we say that we are without sin, we are a liar, and the truth is not in us. What what this passage is referring to here, is, is this idea of continuing in sin? Doesn't mean that we never struggle with our sin. It means that we don't live out of the principle of sin. It isn't what we favor. It's not what we want our life to be born out of or led by that we that we go from reveling in our sin to resisting our sin. We we go from embracing it to to, being disgusted by it. When I was not a Christian, my sin did not bother me. I embraced it, I rejoiced in it. I reveled in it. Now that I am of Christ, I hate it. Even if I still see it. It is disgusting to me. It is not something I want. It's not something that I delight in. It's not something that I. I'm anxious to live out of. I want to be good. And when I'm not, that doesn't mean I still don't want to be. I want to live a virtuous life. I see the benefit of goodness. I hate the, the harm of evil. But like with all of us, until his coming, we still have a struggle with our old nature. We struggle with our old nature, and, we, live in our new nature. If we love Christ, we will favor our new nature. Though we still have sin in us, we don't favor sin. If we're children of God, we want to get rid of it. We want to mortify it. We want to use the power of the gospel to destroy it in us. We want to destroy Christ, to destroy the sin that is in us as as he destroys the work of the devil, we want him to do his work in us. We want him to destroy the devil's work in us. A little test to kind of check to see what you are, and who you love and who you're from. Are you a child of God or are you a child of Satan? Well, one test is you're here this morning. If you're a child of Satan, you wouldn't want to hear any of this stuff. This would be something that it would be the last thing on, on your daily agenda. But think about it this way. Who would you rather spend time with? Would you rather spend time with people who love Jesus, who love goodness, who love the truth, who love righteousness? Or would you rather spend time with people who hate Christ? With people who, reject what is good, who people who revel in what is harmful, evil, and destructive? Would you rather spend time with, some, Colombian drug runners or some Bible thumpers? If you love those who love Christ, it's evidence that Christ is in you. Jesus came to destroy the destroyer. Those who belong to evil hate the righteous. Those who have passed from death to life love the righteous. It's evidence of Christ in us if we love each other. Not that we are always all that lovable. Not that we don't offend one another, but it's evidence that we love, Christ, if we love his followers, if we love those who are sincerely seeking to, follow him and to emulate him, and we'll be merciful to one another, Lord, to one another, recognizing our own weaknesses and our own folly will love those who are sincerely seeking to follow the master again. The theme is Jesus came to destroy the destroyers. Those who belong to evil hate the righteous, those who have passed from death to life love the righteous. To conclude this morning, I'd like to read from, John chapter eight, verse 31 through 41. It says this to the Jews who had believed him. Jesus said, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been a slave to anyone. How can you say we shall be set free? Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave is no permanent, has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the son has set you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendant, yet you already, But you are ready to kill me because you have no room for my word. So he's looking at these guys that he's talking to, and he realizes even now you who are asking me these questions are all ready to kill me because you have no room for me. You have no room for my word. I tell you, I am telling you what I have seen in the father's presence. And you, And you do what you have heard from your father. Abraham is your father. They answer is our father. They answered, if you were Abraham's children, Jesus said, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I learned from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things of your own that your own father does. We are not illegitimate children, they protested. The only father we have is God himself. So the question here is, we, you know that Jesus was using evidence of who they were fathered from, by how they responded to him. And the fact that they hated him was evidence that they were not, born of God. How does our love of Christ evidence what we are and who were from, what we love and what we hate, defines us, and determines which family we belong to? Heavenly father. Lord, we come before you and, Lord, even as I was, preaching this morning, I felt a particular resistance and a burden and, a hard time, and struggling through this text. Lord. And, I just thank you that you have come to destroy the one who is seeking to destroy us, the one who is seeking to to withhold from us the truth, the one who is seeking to, bring us low, Lord. And I just sense, Lord, more than usual. Lord, a spiritual battle here this day. And if if there's somebody who's particularly under assault and, and, and struggling to get free. Lord, we just pray that you would bring the power from on, on above of the power from above to bear here and that you would destroy the work of the devil even here in our midst, that we'd be set free by the truth, free to do, to love, to to act in ways that are a blessing. In Christ name we pray. Amen.