I John, 3:13-15
Josiah Matthews · Feb 26, 2006
1 John, No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826234455399

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, well here are our verses for today. Well, we are, sort of, indirectly. Alright, so let's read it together. Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who 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.

Okay, so these are the verses we'll be going over today. So, first off, the do be surprised, the Thaumazo, means to wonder, to wonder at, or to marvel. And the question is, have you ever been surprised? Of course we have. And then there's different variations of surprise. This team surprised me this year. And some are funny, but then other surprises that we've occurred are not very funny, but certainly surprising indeed.

So this word, Thaumazo, to wonder, to marvel, is used only one time here in 1 John. And it's present tense, so it's happening right now. It's active voice and it's also in the imperative mood, so he's commanding them to not be surprised. And there's a little particle knot that makes it a negative command.

So translated, you must not be surprised. Alright, we'll see what they are not supposed to be surprised about in a minute here. But then brethren, don't be surprised brethren. This is Adelphos, brother. It shows up a lot in 1 John. It's one of the key words. We've seen it about every week as we study here. Used 17 times.

And so here John is referring to his spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. He calls them brothers. And in the context of our verses today, John has been talking about loving the brothers, loving the brethren, loving one another. And so here he does call them his brothers.

This is a verse, 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 and 13. It's using the illustration of a body being made up of many members. But it's pretty good because in verse 13 it says, right here, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. So again, here it's a body illustration. In our verse it's more of a family illustration.

We're all members of the same family. But it's, of course, by the same Holy Spirit and it's the same body, the body of Christ. So that's why we're brothers and sisters. We've been placed together in Christ. And then Adolfo shows up four times in our verses this morning.

So he says, don't be surprised if the world hates you. If is a subordinating conjunction and this is a first class conditional sentence. Does anybody remember what that is off the top of their head? Besides Roger, or Brad. Well, a first class conditional sentence assumes the statement is true for argument's sake. It may not be true. In this case it is. But some places in scripture, they use this first class conditional sentence and they state something as true, even though it may not be true. But they just state it as true for argument's sake.

So that's what we have. If the world hates you, that's the statement. And he says, brethren, if the world hates you, then do not be surprised. The world is kosmos, and in the New Testament, kosmos has several different meanings, and we'll quickly look at those different meanings, and then you get to pick which one fits our context. if the world hates you.

The first is a meaning that's used, I believe, solely in classical Greek. It's an apt or harmonious arrangement or constitution, sometimes used to refer to the government or, I think, even a marriage are a couple of examples. That doesn't show up in Scripture, but it's still the Greek meaning. Another one that does show up in Scripture for world, kosmos, is a decoration or an adornment. and Peter uses it that way, one time.

Another definition is the universe, or the earth, only the earth specifically, in distinction from the universe. Also, it can refer to the inhabitants of the world, either angels or mankind. And then it can refer to the ungodly, portion of mankind, the whole mass of men alienated from God, and it also can then refer to worldly affairs, the total or sum of everything that is of the world, its pleasures, its riches, its status, its perspective, their philosophy. And then lastly, it can refer to a general collection of anything.

So you could have a world of ideas, that kind of thing, or a world of sin, or a world of lies, that kind of usage. And it shows up that way in James. Okay, so which of those definitions fits with our verse today? What do you think? If the world hates you? And again, I ask easy questions. Too easy. Excuse me. I can't drink. So it is the ungodly multitude. So the world hates you. The whole mass of men who are unsaved. In our context, the world that's used this way, world refers to the mass or the sum of anyone who practices sin and anyone who does not practice righteousness.

Because, remember, starting in verse 4 through our verses today, John's been setting... John's been emphasizing relationship. And that's really something he started in verse 4. The first couple of chapters of 1 John, it was fellowship. Fellowship was his theme. But then he does start talking about one's relationship to God. So in verse 4 he starts dividing up humanity into two classes.

You're either born of God or you're born of the devil. Saved, unsaved. And so these phrases are specifically the way he describes the world in the preceding verses. Anyone who practices sin, anyone who does not practice righteousness. Cosmos is another key word of the book. It shows up 23 times in total.

Okay. Hates. Meseo. To hate, to pursue with hatred, to detest. So it's a real strong word. It's not a weak word. It's a very strong word. It means to detest someone or something. It's present tense, active voice, so it's happening right now. The world is hating you.

It shows up five times in 1 John. Okay, so let's summarize verse 13, put it all together. We've looked at all the parts, so now let's make sense out of it. So, in the preceding verses, John has described the obvious difference between the saved and the unsaved. Remember in verse 10, he kind of... The children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. And what is the obvious difference?

You can answer this one. Righteous and unrighteous. Okay. Loving the brethren. Loving the brethren. Okay. Right. That's right. And in verse 10, he says that the children of God practice righteousness and love, and the children of the devil practice sin. And then, in verse 12, we were given a very poignant and primitive example which illustrated the drastic difference between those who trust God and those who do not. So this is all in the context right before verse 13 here.

Cain killed his brother Abel. And then now he's telling them, so don't you be surprised if the world hates you. And this, I think, is his point here. Based on this example of Cain and Abel, and everything I've been teaching you about the practice of unbelievers, in distinction from the practice of believers, don't be surprised, Christians, if you're treated similarly by the world. I think that's what he's saying there in verse 13. And Jesus also said something like this, recorded by John. In John 15, he told them, and this is in the Upper Room Discourse, his kind of last time with his disciples that we have recorded.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. So Jesus is telling him, you're hated by the world. Then a little later that evening, He says, this is in His prayer to the Father, I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

1 John 3.1, we've already looked at this. I think Brad might have taught on this a while back. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. And then Ignatius said this, Christianity is truly great when it is hated by the world. Do you have anything else to add on verse 13? Any other applications or conclusions? That was a little verse. I wish they were all that small. No. That was a fun one though. Alright, so now let's look at, if not, let's look at verse 14.

We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. So we know, a know here is oida, to know, to have knowledge of. And I didn't tell you that we here, often times in the New Testament, The verb tells you what the person is, whether it's first person plural like we. The verb tells you if it's someone singularly talking or if it's someone talking in a group.

They often don't put the pronoun in, but here we have the pronoun actually in the Greek text this morning, haemes, I think, yeah. And I didn't emphasize it, but a lot of Bible scholars and students do emphasize that John put the we in there, because he's showing, he's emphasizing the distinctions between the world and the Christians. So he's saying, we, in distinction from the unbelievers, have passed out of death into life. So, I didn't mention it, but now I did. is in the perfect tense, but it's used irregularly, as if it's in the present tense. So he's saying, we are knowing, right now, present tense.

Gnosko frequently suggests inception or progress in knowledge, while Oida suggests the fullness of knowledge. So we know completely something, and that's what he used here. We know completely that we have passed out of death and into life. Oida is also one of the key words in the book, used 17 times.

So we've already seen it quite a bit. We're about half done with 1 John, so we'll see it quite a few more times in the next two chapters. Okay, so we know. What do we know? Well, we know that we have passed metabino, we have passed over from one place to another, to be removed.

It's funny, I never heard this English word, passed, used this way, but in Denver, people use this to refer to someone dying. I think that's a new thing. I've never heard people say passed until recently. They always say passed on. I'm not sure it's just Denver. I think it's no, no, no, no, no. I think. OK.

See, when we first moved out to Denver, which was about four years ago now, I worked for an animal control company, and the guy that ran the company would always refer to animals as passing, that one passed. So anyway, that's how we translate this metabino, we have passed, and here it's talking about separation like death would. to pass over from one place to another, to be removed. It only shows up one time in 1 John, and this is it. And actually, in the entire New Testament, only 11 times. So it's not a very common word.

Now, it's perfect tense. Remember, perfect tense means it's a completed action in the past with ongoing results into the present. There may be ongoing results into the future as well, based on your context. But the perfect tense only guarantees that there are ongoing results into the present. And then if the context indicates, then those results will keep going. So we have passed from death into life. So it's used 11 times in total. Nine of these times, it means to physically go from one place to another. And here's two examples.

The whole city implored Jesus to leave their region. This is after Jesus cast the demons out of the men and put them into the swine and they jumped off the cliff. So the whole city asked Jesus to leave their region. Metabino. Later, Jesus, knowing that he would depart out of this world.

And that's the same word there. So he's talking about a physical and, in this case, a spiritual departure too. Then two times, it means to spiritually go from one place to another. Of course, in our verse this morning, 1 John 3, 14, and then also in John 5, 24, look at this one. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. So it's almost identical to what our verse this morning.

Passed out of death into life. And we'll look at this again soon. Out of death, ek, a preposition, shows separation, in this instance, away from or from something. For what it's worth, more details here. Ek denotes exit or emission out of, as separation from, out of something with which there has been close connection.

We were very closely connected to death. We were in death. But we passed out of that by God's grace, and now we're in life. So, out of death, death is thanatos, just meaning death or separation. And in Scripture, it's used two ways, either a physical death, a separation of the soul from the body, or a spiritual death, separation of man from God. And that's how it's used this morning. We've passed out of death into life.

Here's a couple of examples, Romans 5, 12, and then verse 14. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so spiritual death, came through Adam's sin. The wages of sin is death, they're tied together. So death spread to all men, because all sinned. And then 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses. So, from Romans 5, we see that all men are born positionally in Adam, and are consequently spiritually separated from God, spiritually dead. So, death, thanatos, is used six times in 1 John.

Into life. This is the preposition eis, meaning into, toward, or in. And we'll look at this graphically. Oh, there we go. So, into. See, we've moved out of death, into life. And the whole phrase, out of death, into life, would graphically appear this way. So we're out of death and into life. Life here is Zoe. You like that? Zoe. And it is the word we get zoo from. Zoe, sure, yeah. Zoe. So yeah, she's one of those round things, isn't she? What are those called? Oh, cartoon. Alright, anyway. Used 13 times in 1 John and is one of the key words of the book. Zoe. There it is, 13 times. Okay, Zoe is used two ways in the New Testament. It can either refer to physical life or, you guessed it, spiritual life. I put a few verses here. Physical life or living existence. Bios is also another Greek word for life. It's used this way as well. Here's an example.

All the days of our life from Luke 1.75.

And in Luke 16.25, Abraham said, remember that during your life, So your lifetime, you receive good things and less bad things.

So there's an example of when Zoe is used to refer to physical life. And then also Zoe is used to refer to spiritual life. Which, by the way, spiritual life is God's very essence. He is life. And we'll see a verse in a second where it says that Christ is the eternal life. We've already seen that in verse John.

So, it also is used of spiritual life that is given to all who believe in Him, and thereby have a relationship with Him. And then I put a sampling of these verses, and you can look at them if you want to go further. It's pretty neat to look at those, though. We'll look at a couple.

John 1, 4, in Him, in Christ, was life, and the life was the light of men. So Christ has life in Him, and as we'll see in a minute, He is the life. John 13, 15 and 16, So whoever believes, will in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So remember, we've passed out of death into life, and we're looking at what is spiritual life. You get spiritual life by believing in Him. He has eternal life in Himself, Christ does.

John 10.10, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Christ who is our life, Colossians 3.4, so He is our life.

1 John 5.11-12, the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. And lastly, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.

This is the true God and eternal life. So, when John says we've passed out of death and into life, he means that we are spiritually in Christ. It's similar to saying that you've been positioned in Christ. You've passed out of death and now you're into life. He is that eternal life.

Okay, because we love the brethren. Another subordinate conjunction, actually the same one, Hati. Hati is a marker of cause or reason based on evident fact. It answers the question why. The previous phrase said, we have passed out of death unto life, because we love the brethren.

And some scholars think that John is saying, we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. That doesn't make a lot of sense. But the whole sentence said, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. So what John is saying here is, why do we know that we have passed out of death into life? Because we love the brethren. He's not saying the reason you've passed out of death into life is because you love. He's saying the reason you know that you've passed out of death into life is because you love the brother.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I think the common thing that he's trying to show us characteristics of the Christian life that that identify what's happened. Sure. I mean, we're going to say it again. Yeah. All right. Good point. Yeah. I think one of the reasons that's critical is that if you walk down the street, Sure. Yeah.

And in there in the world there in Asia. the Roman province of Asia, they had all the Gnostics coming into their church and were teaching them all kinds of false teachings and confusing them. And so this is kind of a clue here. Guys, if somebody's hating and living in sin and practicing sin, then are you going to want to listen to them? Alright, good.

So we know because we love the brethren. And love here is a gapao. We've seen this quite a few times. To have love for someone or something based on sincere appreciation and high regard. It's the word that's most often used between the Father and the Son, and the love that's produced in us by the Holy Spirit. Present tense, active voice, indicative mood. We are loving right now and continuing the brethren. So it's used 28 times in 1 John, quite a few times. The brethren here is Adolphos again. Again, we've seen this already. We'll see it again.

But what's interesting here, we're talking about loving the brethren, and immediately after Judas leaves the upper room to betray Christ, Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. It's a very similar message. He said this immediately after Judas, who apparently hated him, left to betray him. I didn't find this example. FF Bruce gave this example. I thought it was really cool. Okay, so we know we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren.

Now, on the other hand, he who does not love, so again, John's contrasting we who love and then those who do not love. And this is a participle, the same verb I got ba'o, but it's used as a verbal participle, which is a verbal adjective or a verbal noun. It's present tense, he who is not loving right now. And again, there's a particle in there which makes it a negative statement. And it would be translated this way, he who is not loving. And that whole phrase would be the subject of the sentence. He who does not love.

And this is similar to 1 John 3.10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. It's the exact same phrase there.

So clearly, and let me emphasize this, because it is the exact same phrase as 1 John 3.10, we know that we're talking about an unbeliever here.

Because in 1 John 3.10, we're talking about unbelievers. The children of God, the children of the devil are obvious. It's pretty clear. I say that because several Bible students and translators, they think that this is still, this whole context is still talking about relationship. But I don't see it. You have to do gymnastics here. to teach that, because this is clear.

Clearly we're talking here about saved people and unsaved people. It seems like John likes to do that, like we learned earlier. We'll go and insert believer, unbeliever, in the same verse. Total contrast. And if you don't pick up on that, boy, you have to do some really handstands to explain what's going on there. So I mention that just because here in our verse this morning, we're also talking about saved and unsaved. Relationship. So much the first couple of chapters in 1 John, we were talking about fellowship, but now John took a turn, he's emphasizing relationship.

Now, 1 John 3.14 here, you see his brother? In the minority text family, his brother is not there. But in the majority text family, they have either his brother or the brother. So what in the world is the minority text family? What in the world is the majority text family? Well, I gave you a handout. It should be at the back of your notes. whole page here, and this is really neat. We won't spend a lot of time here, and hopefully you'll understand what I'm trying to communicate.

The autographs is the technical term for the original document that came from the hand of the apostle. So it's the original. Well, of course, those were copied. and copied and copied and copied. And this line on the left indicates the number of copies. And this is just guesswork.

Eventually, there emerged two schools of scribes, the Alexandrian school and the Antiochian school. Everybody knows that that's because of quotation. Okay, and that's because of location. Alexandria is in Egypt, and Antioch is the base of the Apostle Paul, way over in Syria.

Well, these scribes, they translated the text. Today, scholars have more of the majority text. That's why they're called the majority text. We have more of them. They make up the majority. But the copies that we have are also later. They're later copies. Scholars have fewer of the Alexandrian text, that's why they call it the minority text. But the copies that they have are older, back in here. So, scholars argue back and forth about which are the right ones, but in the end there aren't that many serious or important differences.

So, I thought you'd like to see that, because it's appropriate today, because his brother shows up in these later texts, but his brother does not show up in the earlier texts. So, most think that it probably wasn't there, but it was added. Now, either way, it doesn't matter whether his brother was there or not, because loving the brethren is in the context. We've been talking about loving the brothers, loving the brethren, and then he says, he who does not love, it's my interpretation that he's still talking about the brethren. Others emphasize now he's just saying love in general, but it seems to me he's talking about loving the brethren. But again, it's not an important, if a scribe did add the brother or his brother, it's not a significant difference there. Okay, abides here, so he who does not love, abides in death. Abide is meno. We've seen this a lot already in this class.

It's to continue to be present, to remain, to abide. It's used 24 times in 1 John. And we've made this point a bit that out of the 120 times it's used in the New Testament, John uses it 68 times. So over half of those times. Now it's present tense, active voice here, so he is abiding continually in death. In, we've seen that already as well this morning. It's a preposition, meaning to be entirely in something or someone. No, this is the first time, we'll see it again, sorry. But you've seen it already this class. So here, the one who does not love abides entirely in death. He's in death. And we've already interpreted that death is talking about spiritual separation from God. He's born in death and he remains in death until he can be saved. If that happens.

Okay, so death is thanatos, our same word as earlier. Yeah, and this is the verse Roger was referring to earlier, Ephesians 2, 1 and 2. And you were dead, it happens to be an adjective, necros, which is a different one, different but similar, same meaning. You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world. So, walking dead ones. So he abides in death, and it's the same thing that Paul said in Ephesians 2. You were dead, you were walking around in deadness.

Okay, so now let's look at the details, observe the details of verse 14. We've already done some interpretation, but now let's finish it off and apply it as well. Beginning in verse 4, John places all of humanity into two classes, the children of God and the children of the devil. We've already reviewed that a bit this morning.

Those who practice righteousness are of God, he said, because God is the only source of righteousness. Those who practice sin are of the devil, because Satan originated sin. And the difference between those two groups is clear. So, in verse 14, what John's doing is continuing to emphasize the distinction between saved and the unsaved.

So, passed out of death into life refers to those who are spiritually alive, that group. And we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. And we should love one another. By the way, he said that in the previous verse. And then from verse 14, we also know that those who do not love have not passed out of death into life. It's obvious. That's what he said in verse 10. It's obvious.

We know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love the brethren. And so conversely, it's true that those who do not love have not passed out of death into life. They continue to remain in death. Remember, he said they abide in death. which is spiritual separation from God.

Alright, so that's all I have for fourteen. Do you guys have anything to add there? Last chance? Okay, let's go. Fifteen. Alright, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Now, this would be one of the verses that would be confusing if we didn't have the context. It's another like verse 9. So that's the nature of a verse. Alright, so let's look at it here. Everyone who hates his brother. Everyone is pos, it's just an adjective. Now, there's a rule here, and if you're interested in this, listen in. If not, tune me out.

POS in the predicate position, which means that it does not have a definite article right before it. So it's in the predicate position. POS in the predicate position with a participle is translated everyone. POS, by the way, is one of these regular adjectives that it's translated all, every, everyone, but you know how to interpret it or translate it based on the way it's used in the sentence.

So, in this case, it does precede a participle and it does not have a definite article in front of it. So, they translated everyone. So, everyone who hates his brother, Who hates is meseo, the same word we had in verse 13, if the world hates you. So everyone who hates his brother now. Here it's a participle, a verbal adjective. Present tense, who is hating right now. Translated, everyone who is hating presently and continuing.

His brother, Adolfos. So, Vani was wondering earlier, are we talking about a physical brother here or a spiritual brother? And you may remember a few weeks back, I mentioned that I thought some places in 1 John, he's referring to one's physical brother. In verse 12, we are talking about a physical brother, for sure.

So, it's Cain kills his brother Abel. And then in verse 15, our verse this morning, everyone who is hating, Okay, everyone who hates his brother. And in the context, that participle, everyone who hates, is describing somebody who's not saved. And we'll see that as we go. So, how can a saved one have a brother, a spiritual brother? They don't. So that's why, it seems to me, in the context, he's talking about everybody who hates his brother. Because we're talking about unbelievers. That would be a physical brother.

Then you have to ask, does that include all mankind? My particular family. Or your neighbor. Who is my neighbor. Okay, everyone who hates a brother is. And this is a me. First time this morning, but we've seen it a gazillion times already. And it's an essence verb, so it describes the nature of everyone who is hating his brother.

He is, by his essence, a murderer. Now, a murderer Anthropoctanus, that's a word for you. Anthropoctanus. It's used only three times in the New Testament. Two times in our verse this morning, and then once in John 8, verse 44. John 8.44, Jesus tells the unbelieving Jews, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand the truth. So, Satan's a murderer. We'll look at that again later. You know, this is also Oida again, so we're going to blow right past that. You know, what do you know?

You know that no murderer Here's an interesting construction. It has our adjective pos with the negative particle uc. It shows up a couple times, and when it shows up this way, with the pos preceding the particle, it's translated no, or no one. It's used that way a few times in the New Testament. Kind of technical, but if you're interested in that, you can look those up. We know that no murder, well this is the second time of three that it shows up in the New Testament.

No murderer has. This is echo, to have or to possess. It's present tense, active voice. So, no murderer has, right now and continuing, he doesn't possess eternal life. Echo is used 28 times in 1 John. No murderer is having eternal life. It's an adjective and a noun here, zoi, ionios.

This phrase, eternal life, occurs 41 times in the New Testament. In 1 John, it's used 6 times. I'm just going to read bits of this, okay, because we're running low on time. The life was manifested. We proclaim to you the eternal life. And he's talking about Jesus Christ here.

1 John 2.25, this is the promise which He Himself made to us, eternal life. 5.11, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. So there again we have life and His Son being tied together. At the end, He's written these things so that we may know that we have eternal life. And then lastly, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life.

So He's the eternal life. So no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Now this is a really weird construction, because abide here is a participle, so it's an adjective of life. So it's eternal life. And what kind of eternal life is it? Abiding in him eternal life. It's pretty weird to translate. It makes sense in English, but it's weird when you look at it in Greek, or if you try to diagram it. So meno, it's the same word we've seen in verse 14. Present tense, active voice.

So it's eternal life is not abiding in him, presently. And in him, we've seen this end this morning already. So eternal life, here's the murderer, eternal life is not abiding in him. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And we'll ask the question in a minute, so then should we cancel our prison ministry? Okay, so let's summarize verse 15 here. At the end of verse 14, John was describing the unsaved who do not love and abide in death. And so he continues the description of the unsaved here in verse 15. That's what he's doing.

Everyone who is hating his brother is a murderer. Alright, and John just gave us the example of Cain, who murdered his brother. And in verse 13, John tells the Christians to not be surprised if the world hates them. And now we are told that all who are hating their brothers are actually murderers. Whether they commit the act or not, they're murderers by nature, by their very essence.

And Jesus said something similar here in Matthew 5. You heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder. skip down, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty." So a similar message here. And so what we see from Matthew 5 and 1 John 3 is that hate is the source of murder. So it's the same. And of course the sin nature is the source of hate. We could keep going with that. Therefore, haters are really murderers. And look at this, John 8, 44.

You are of your father the devil. You want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. So, if you're of your father, and remember that of your father, son of the devil, if the devil is your father, it indicates oneness. Well, if they want to do the desires of their father, and he's a murderer, well, then they want to murder and, you know, they're the same. We're about done here.

So the unsaved are the children of the devil, and according to John 8.44, they want to do the desires of their father.

Lastly, no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Earlier we saw that the Christian has passed out of death into life. Okay, I'm going to skip these next couple of bullets because our time is already gone. Let me just get down. Okay, let's skip that thought there.

Okay, does this mean that those who kill or take the life of another cannot be saved? Because that's what this verse would seem to say if you just looked at this verse and didn't look at the context, right? That's what it says. No murder has eternal life in him. But again, we've looked at it in context. Should we stop all prejudice to murderers? Of course not. The point is that John is merely describing the unsaved who are characterized by a lack of love, hate, and murder. That's what John's doing. He's not saying that we shouldn't. Give the gospel to those who have taken the life of another.

And we're out of time. And so now there's no time for questions again on that verse. So let's pray real quick. And let's get out of here. Alright, let's pray. Dear Lord, thanks for letting us go over this passage this morning. And please continue to teach us as we study Isaiah. And I pray we would glorify You by trusting You and resting in Your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.