1 John 3:10b-18
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (ESV)
The Nature of the Children of God
• They love their brother (v. 10a)
The Nature of the Children of the Devil
• They do not Love their brother (v. 10b)
| Children of the Devil | Children of God |
| Do not practice righteousness | Practice righteousness |
| Do not love their brother | Love their brother |
| Like Cain (of the evil one, who murdered his brother) | Unlike Cain – not of the evil one |
| Have evil deeds | Have righteous deeds |
| Hate the world (by implication) | Are hated by the world |
| Abide in death | Have passed out of death into life |
| Hate their brother | Love their brothers |
| Are murderers (in heart) | Like the Lord, lay down their lives for the brothers |
| Close their hearts against their brother in need | Share with brothers in need |
| Love in word or talk only | Love in deed and in truth |
1. What we were saved from (vv. 10, 12, 15).
2. How we were saved from it (vv. 11, 16)
3. What we were saved unto (vv. 14, 17-18)