The Children of the Devil: Like Cain

“The Children of the Devil: Like Cain”
1 John 3:11-15 (1 John 3:10-24)

Introduction

· Hate Expressed at a Death Clinic, which gave evidence of being born of the Devil

· The distinction between the Children of God and the Children of the Devil (1 John 3:10)

I. The Message Heard from the Beginning (v. 11)

· Love One Another – fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

· Commanded by Christ Himself (John 13:34-35)

· The Primary Standard of the True Believer (Colossians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:3-4; 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22)

II. Loving the Brethren – A Key Factor in Determining the Child of God and the Child of the Devil in two Ways: (vs. 12-15)

A. In How it Affects the Relationship between the two Types of Children (vs. 12-13)

· Not as Cain (v. 12; Genesis 4:3-15; Hebrews 11:4)

· Cain – The Poster Child of the World (v. 13; John 15:19; 7:7)

B. In How it Would Evidence the Extreme Difference in the Spiritual State of the Two Types of Children (vs. 14-15)

· The True Believer has Passed from Death to Life (v. 14a; Romans 11:6)

· Those That Do not Love His Brother “Abide in Death (v. 14b; Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:1-3)

· Those Who Hate his brother in Christ is a Murderer – Does not have Eternal Life Abiding in Him (v. 15; Matthew 5:21-22, 28; John 4:14)

Conclusion and Application

· Does Your Heart and the Conduct of Your Life Reflect that of being a Child of God or of the Devil, like Cain’s?