In this episode, we navigate through themes of love and envy, using the biblical story of Cain and Abel as a lens to examine our personal journeys. Dr. McGee sheds light on ways to nurture spiritual growth and the importance of loving the brethren. Whether you’re a regular listener or hopping on the Bible bus for the first time, this conversation promises to inspire a deeper connection with God’s Word and a stronger bond with fellow believers.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Through the Bible with our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I’m Steve Schwetz, your host, and I’m so glad that you’ve joined us today as we study a very important passage of Scripture. It’s found in 1 John, chapter 3, verses 10 to 17. If you’re joining us for the first time, welcome aboard what Dr. McGee affectionately called the Bible bus. You see, we travel a five-year path through the entire Word of God. So stay on the Bible bus, and after five years, you’ll have traveled through all 66 books of the Bible. Not many people can say that. You can hop on and off anywhere you want, and you don’t need to worry about where you start on this journey. In fact, 1 John, where we are today, is a great place to begin. Dr. McGee designed this study to jump back and forth between the Old and New Testaments. Halfway through this month, we’ll finish 1 John and then we’ll head back to the Old Testament book of Micah. It’s an exciting tour that will help us understand the scriptures in a deep and meaningful, and most importantly, integrated way. For more information on our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, and our five-year journey through God’s Word, you can visit us at ttb.org. Now, before we get started in 1 John, let’s listen to the first part of an introduction Dr. McGee recorded specifically for this section of our study.
SPEAKER 03 :
And now we have come far enough along that I should take a few moments to give some background material that we need if we are to understand this profound yet very understandable teaching. epistle of John. He is beginning to say some things that can be comprehended only by what is written in his gospel, the gospel of John, and that has to do with the two natures of the believer. The old nature with which he’s born, the new nature which he gets when he accepts Christ, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever, is the way Simon Peter put it. But again, it should be born from above, not of corruptible seed. Now the Lord Jesus amplified that statement. He says, “…that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That is, flesh will always be flesh. You can do a lot with the flesh. You can train it. You can discipline it. You can send it to school. You can educate it. You can give it good manners. You can make it act civilized, but it’s still the old natured. And a believer has these two natures. He has that old nature, but he has a new nature. But that old nature is not changed. Paul enlarged upon this. He says, I know that within my flesh, that is, the old nature, dwelleth no good thing. Now, the natural man has no capacity for God. He’s incapable of understanding actually the things of God. I’d like for you to see that as Paul gives it, In 1 Corinthians 2, and I’m going to begin reading at the ninth verse, he says, But as it’s written, I have not seen, nor hear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now, the natural man has eyes, he has ears, and a heart. but he cannot comprehend the things of God. The Spirit of God must be his teacher. Paul goes on and he says, The natural man receiveth not the things of God. They are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. He that is spiritual. understandeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. And then he says, speaking to the Corinthians, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So Christians are divided into two groups. There are carnal Christians and spiritual Christians. And so the believer, therefore, can be carnal. That is what Paul is talking about, by the way, in the epistle to the Romans in the 8th chapter, when he says, “…the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” and for sin, condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, what’s he saying here? Is that even if you are a born from above Christian, you will have to walk in the Spirit to be able to understand the things of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
We’ll conclude Dr. McGee’s introduction on the believers’ two natures tomorrow. Now let’s pray for understanding as we begin our study together. Our gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to study your word and then apply it to our lives. Help us to walk with you today and then give you glory for all that we have and all that we’re able to do. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Now here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with Through the Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, friends, as we return to this particular section here, where we are actually looking at the two natures of the believer, and we see them here in action. Now, we are seeing that there are two things that manifest the child of God. Now, God knows the heart, whether you and I have really been born again and are his children. But our neighbor next door doesn’t know that. And the only way is for that life of God to be manifested in the believer. And it’s not necessarily manifested by lip and language. It’s manifested by life, by living. And he says here back in verse 10, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. You see, there are two families in the world. That’s the teaching of the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. I consider it a damnable heresy today that’s in the world. Bible doesn’t teach that. Bible teaches there are two families in the world. The Lord Jesus said to the religious rulers, you’re of your father, the devil. The devil’s got a family down here, by the way. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. And that means a life. Now, actually, not just one act, because you may do one act of unrighteousness. The prodigal may get in the pigpen. He’s not going to live there. He’s going to live in the father’s house because he has the nature of the father. And neither he that loveth not his brother. Now, you can’t harbor hatred in your heart against another believer. Now, we’re going to see when we get to the next chapter, this is not something that is sloppy and slippery by any means, that every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes along doesn’t mean that you’re to be taken in by them. We’re warned to be very careful indeed. And to keep her eyes open. We’re going to see that when we get to the next chapter. And I’ll hold that until we do get there. But we are to have a love in our heart. Now, this love is actually love that is a concern that acts. that does something. And we’re going to see that now as we move down into this chapter here in the remainder of it. Now, he gives two examples here, Cain and Abel. And obviously, Cain was a child of the devil. And Abel was a child of the Lord. There was that difference. And why did he kill him? Well, he killed him because he hated him. And he hated him because, as we said last time, he was jealous of him. But I got to thinking about that word jealous, and I’m not sure that I’m satisfied with it. The word jealousy has in it a note of suspicion. A man may be jealous of his wife, which means that he probably loves her, but he suspects that she may not be faithful to him. And jealousy has that in it. I think the better word is the word envy. And envy and jealousy are given in the dictionary as a synonym. And it’s all right, but there is a distinction without really being a difference. And let me give the meaning of envy. And that is the thing that characterized Cain. He was envious of his brother. And it led to murder. And it’s that that’s in the human heart. As Dr. Ross says, the most destructive force in the world is jealousy and envy. Now, let me give you here a definition of envy. It says here, “…discontent or uneasiness at the sight of another’s excellence or good fortune, accompanied with some degree of hatred and a desire to possess equal advantages.” And that’s exactly the thing that describes Cain. Or if you want a definition of envious, and again, this is very good here, actuated or directed by or proceeding from envy, jealously pained by the excellence or good fortune of another. And then this kind of a distinction is made here, which I think is good, that actually a woman is not envious of a man’s courage. are jealous of it. And that is also true of a man is not jealous of a woman’s beauty by any means, but this that we would desire to have. And I would say that envy and jealousy in the church today and among believers hurts the cause of Christ probably more than anything else. And he uses Cain and Abel as an example, and certainly they are. Now he says in verse 13, Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. Don’t act as if it’s some strange, weird thing that has happened if the world doesn’t accept you. because the world is not going to accept you. John makes it very clear that all the way through this epistle, he’s merely passing on the teachings that the Lord Jesus Christ himself gave. Now, over in the gospel of John, in chapter 15, in verse 18, the Lord Jesus said this, if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Now, that’s always been a problem for many of us in the ministry. I have never really appreciated for anyone to say, when you were pastor in a certain place, you were a popular minister. I’m not sure that I care for that. I deeply regret if I was popular with a certain crowd. I should not have been. And I don’t want to be popular with them because the Lord Jesus is not popular with that crowd. I was listening in or watching the other night on TV and a minister was brought into a program. And here he had this marvelous opportunity to witness for Christ. But he played up to that unsaved crowd. And he said some nice, flowery, complimentary things. And he was applauded for it. But I wondered if there wasn’t really sorrow in heaven that he was in a crowd where Jesus is not popular. But he is popular. Now, that is something today that the child of God has to accept. and has to recognize. Now, there is an offense of the cross, but we ought not to magnify it. We ought not to make ourselves very objectionable and obnoxious. Many Christians do that, and they are not accepted. Not because they’re Christians, but because they’re just really obnoxious. They’d be whether they were a Christian or not. And we need to be very careful about that, of course. Now, in verse 14, he says, we know that we pass from death unto life. You can know whether you’re a child of God or not. This idea that you and I can’t know is a big mistake because the Word of God says we know that we pass from death unto life. How do you know it? Because we love the brethren. Now, do you have a love in your heart for the brethren? One of the greatest experiences that I’ve had since I’ve been on radio is traveling over the country and having conferences in many places and meeting so many wonderful believers today. And we’ve had several rather interesting experiences as we’ve gone on our way. It’s amazing. I… recall that I was in a city in the east, and I felt very much alone. My wife was not with me at the time, and I felt very, very lonesome. And I went into a restaurant to eat, And I sat down to eat, and I just gave my order to the waitress. And a man sitting next to me, or next table, he got up and came over. He says, well, Dr. McGee, I didn’t expect to see you here. And I said, well, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to? Well, he said, I have never met you before. And he says, to tell the truth, I’ve never seen you before. He says, but I listen to you on the radio. And then he said, may I sit down? I said, certainly. And he sat down and he and I had one of the most wonderful times of fellowship. How did we have it? Well, he was a child of God. And I was having meetings in the town. He didn’t even know that I was there. And he brought his wife to the meetings. And I told him about it. And we went out afterward after the service that night for refreshments. And I probably ought to say that he picked up the tab and that to me was a proof he’s a real brother. And really and truly, these things are quite wonderful in the ministry. You meet these wonderful Christians around the country today. And I was on a golf course playing and there was a couple up ahead of us and they were slowing us down. I yelled at them one time. And finally, we came up to right where they were. And the man looked at me and he says, well, Dr. McGee, I didn’t know you were out here playing golf. In fact, I didn’t know you were in this area. This was when I was down in Florida. And he said, were you the fellow trying to hurry me along? And I said, yes. He said, well, be very frank with you. I have been to the doctor and I’m not too well yet and I have to play slowly. So I had to apologize to the man for being very rude and abrupt, trying to get him to hurry. And we just had a wonderful time of fellowship. Our twosome joined his twosome, he and his wife, and we played along together. We got so interested in talking that the crowd back of us, the foursome yelled at us for not moving along. And again, Somebody I’d never seen. And you find out he’s your brother. Now, that is the thing that he’s talking about here. Do you love the brethren? When you can meet around a person of Christ and you can talk about Christ with these folks. Friends, you got a brother or sister. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Now, if you have no concern for the child of God, and there are those that don’t seem to have any concern, but you and I have a concern. Now, he’s going to give us a warning in the next chapter. But may I say this, that when you meet a very wonderful Christian, I always look forward to our tours, and I’m looking forward to our tour into Hawaii. We have a marvelous group that are going over there. And a lot of those folks will be new people. And we’re going to have two weeks of the most wonderful fellowship that you’ve ever heard of. We just have a great time. Why? Because you love the brethren. And that’s a proof of your salvation, friends. And there’s no greater proof than that as far as your own heart is concerned. Now, he’s developing this. Notice what he says in verse 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. Now, John said that. I didn’t say it. I’d never thought of that. But again, he’s quoting the Lord Jesus. And if you go back to Matthew, the fifth chapter, verse 21, you’ll hear what the Lord said. He says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rechah, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. May I say to you, that is something that is very strong. In other words, the Lord Jesus said, if you have hatred in your heart toward your brother, Well, that actually means that you are a murderer. And you see, envy and jealousy lead to hatred. And hatred is murder, friends. And how many murderers, by the way, are there around today? There are more out of jail than are in jail by this standard that God has put up for us today. Now, he gives us here in verse 16, he says, “…by this perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.” And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, if you’ll note in your Bible that of God is in italics, which means it’s not in the better manuscripts or in the manuscripts at all. It just simply means it’s put in there to clarify the passage. I don’t think we need that kind of clarification here. It says, by this perceive we love the love. Well, it’s an example. Now, this is the way God loved. How does God love? Because he laid down his life for us. Now, that’s the standard that’s put before us. Now, he says, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I don’t know about you. I have not come up to that level in my life. Actually, today, do you know very many people that would put their life on the line for you? It’s a wonderful thing if they would do that sort of thing. But how many of us would be willing to put our life on the line? For someone else. Well, this is the standard. And until you and I have come to that high level, we are not exhibiting the love that we should have for the brethren. And this is actually love in action here. How does it work out? Well, let’s look at it. Verse 17. But whosoever hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassions from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? What he’s saying here is that love actually is not a sentiment at all. It’s that which expresses itself. You remember James. had a great deal to say about that, that if you say that you have faith and your brother comes to you and you say, well, I’ll pray for you, brother. That’s what a lot of folks say. But the important thing is, is our love manifested in what we’re doing. I think one of the most tragic things in the world will be for many believers, to come into the presence of Christ and to have had this world’s goods down here and have not used it for the cause of Christ. And the passage I was referring to in James is in the second chapter of James, verse 16, where the Christian says, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body. What doth it profit? In other words, you may talk about loving, but loving actually, love’s not made in the parlor or the bedroom. Love is made in the kitchen. Here’s a man that goes out, leaves home five o’clock in the morning. And you say to him, where are you going? He said, I’m going to work. Well, why are you going to work? I got a wife and two children to feed. Well, you say, I wouldn’t worry about them. You’re not going to make a fool of yourself and go out there and just kill yourself just working for them. He said, I sure am. I love them. They’re mine. And then you go into the kitchen and there’s that wife up in the morning. She’s burned her fingers there, taking those hot biscuits out of the oven. And the poor girl, she’s tired and weary in the evening when he gets home. And yet she has to continue to work, takes care of the children and all that. And you say, look, I wouldn’t fool with this. And she says, well, this man’s my husband. I love him. Said, I wouldn’t bother with it. But may I say to you, friends, love’s going to get in action. And you see it in a home where there’s love between the man and the woman. But what about love today among believers? It ought to get in action, ought to start doing something one for another. And until it does, my friend, it’s the worst kind of hypocrisy, you see. This is the thing John’s talking about. And you don’t get this in little courses today, do you? Well, we’re going to have to leave off there today, and we’ll pick up there next time. So until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 01 :
Are you doing something for believers? Are you putting your love into action in your home, in your neighborhood? How about at your job or in your church? And here’s another important question. How are you putting your love into action for believers around the world? Well, if you’d like to make a difference in the lives of Christians all around the world, we’d love to have you partner with us here at Through the Bible. Each day we broadcast God’s Word in more than 120 languages, and through the grace of God and the partnership of friends like you, this ministry is multiplied in the hearts of those who hear it. So how can you join us? Well, the answer is pretty simple. More than anything else, we need your faithful prayers for our producers and for the many listeners all around the world. If you’d like more information on how you can pray specifically, or if you’d like to join our group of faithful prayer warriors called our World Prayer Team, then just visit ttb.org forward slash pray to sign up today. Each weekday, you’ll receive an email with prayer prompts for a different country and stories from listeners whose lives have been changed. And if the Lord’s leading you to support this ministry financially, essentially putting gas in the Bible bus or maybe providing a new set of tires to keep it rolling along, that’s important too. So just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. That’s 1-800-652-4253. Or visit ttb.org forward slash give. ttb.org is also the place to visit if you’d like to know more about the many great resources that we offer to deepen your personal study of the Bible. There you’ll find links to all of Dr. McGee’s messages in our five-year study. Now, tomorrow, Dr. McGee explains how we can know we’re living in God’s will. So why don’t you hop aboard and join us? I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll be here saving a seat on the Bible bus just for you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Jesus made it all
SPEAKER 1 :
All to him I owe.
SPEAKER 02 :
Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 01 :
Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
