Men of the Word Sermon Podcast · Grace Community Church

Assurance and the Lifestyle of Love

·54 min·2 clips

The study is in 1 John 3:11-24 focused on love. It opens by setting the context in Genesis. The speaker goes first to Genesis 4, but only after reminding listeners of the fall in Genesis 3. The tempter comes through the serpent. Adam and Eve fall, and God gives the curses that follow. Yet Genesis 3 also holds the first promise of redemption. The promise in verse 15 sets the serpent and the woman’s offspring in conflict, with the seed bruising the serpent’s head. That frame prepares the way for 1 John 3. John says the children of God and the children of the devil are plain to see. Anyone who does not practice righteousness, or does not love his brother, is not of God. Cain is the example. John asks why Cain killed his brother. The answer is that Cain’s deeds were evil. The sermon keeps pressing the link between roots and fruits, and between nature and behavior. Cain is called the archetype of hatred. Verse 13 extends the point to the present: believers should not be surprised if the world hates them. The world is treated as a present-day Cain. The speaker keeps returning to John’s two-category view of humanity. Those born of God love, and those of the evil one hate. The sermon closes by calling listeners to the gospel, the cleansing blood of Christ, and a life of love, with a prayer that believers would excel still more in love for one another.

As heard by us

A sober, text first sermon that links assurance to love, Cain, and the contrast between two kinds of life.

Assurance and the Lifestyle of Love is a sober, text first sermon on 1 John 3:11-24. It treats love as a test of spiritual reality and moves through Genesis 4, then back through Genesis 3, to show how fast sin spreads.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when you want a sermon on 1 John that ties assurance to a lifestyle of love.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Men of the Word Sermon Podcast