Defined and Delivered

Defined and Delivered

(by the Love of God )

1 John 4: 7-10

Our text this morning, again deals with the continuing theme of love that John has presented throughout this epistle. In fact, the remaining verses of this chapter deal with love.

Love, it has been said, has many faces. People see it in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

They say that kids say the dardest things but what you do get from kids is the truth when it is about someone else.

I think it is interesting to note that sometimes we cant see things around us as clear as children can, especially when it comes to love. many adults think of love as more physical then emotional

A group of professionals posed the following question to a group of four to eight-year-olds:

“What does love mean?”

The answers they got, as one researcher said, “were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.”

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy—age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri—age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny—age 7

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby—age 5

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle—age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” May Ann—age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen—age 7

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica—age 7

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca—age 8 (Sollee, “Love”)

Well, it is one thing to get a child’s perspective on love, but it is even better to get God’s perspective.

Several times in the Bible God gives us His thoughts on love.

We find a few of them in Song of Sol. 8:5-14; 1 Corinthians 13, and here in 1 John 4:7–21.

John has addressed the subject of love already in 2:7–11 as an indication that one is walking in the light

and in 3:11–24 as evidence that one is a child of God.

Yet it is here, in 4:7–21, that he provides his fullest treatment to love.

As he calls us aside to talk about this subject that some say “makes the world go round,”

John will take us to the very origin and source of love: God Himself.

In fact, love is His very nature, and acting in love is His essential character.

How do we know? The cross!

The cross of Golgotha is an everlasting monument to the truth that our God is love.

[*Exalting Jesus; Daniel Ankin 1John 4:7-10.*]

What I like about John is how God took him from being originally known as one of the “sons of thunder,” to be known as John the Beloved, How did he get this name?

he had experienced the gracious love of God and developed a compassionate love for others.

No doubt we have all experienced love,

but real love, genuine love cannot be defined by the world’s standards.

Much that is expressed or thought of by the world and even the church today as love,

does not represent love as God intended.

Someone once wrote the following poem that I believe is a good description of love

“What is love”

It is silence--when your words would hurt.

It is patience--when your neighbor's aren’t.

It is deafness--when a scandal flows.

It is thoughtfulness--for other's woes.

It is promptness--when stern duty calls.

It is courage--when misfortune falls.

(unknown)

As we consider our text this morning, I want to examine the love of God and how by it we are defined and have been delivered.

The first thing we see in our text is:

I. The Importance Implied

(7) – Here we discover the importance that John puts on the love we should have one to another.

John doesn’t offer this command simply because it is socially acceptable, but biblically expected.

Notice:

A. The Exhortation to Love

(7a) – Beloved, let us love one another:

That in itself is a simple statement, but it bears our attention.

As the children of God, we are expected to love one another.

(I have met some who claimed Christ as their Savior who apparently didn’t get that memo.)

But none the less that is a simple enough statement.

John doesn’t say love when we feel like it, or when we think it is deserved.

He doesn’t say love those who agree with our position always.

He doesn’t ask us to love only those within our circle of influence.

We are to love one another.

I am convinced this applies to our love for all people, especially those within the body of Christ.

Jesus revealed this was the second great command: love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Surely you would agree we need to show love to one another!

So How are we to show love, how do we know what true love is?

I am so glad you asked.

B. The Example of Love

(7b) – for love is of God.

This is something the average christian knows, but do we fully comprehend its depth.

Love is of God.

Love is one of the great character traits of God.

It reveals part of His very essence.

He possesses love and offers that love to those that would call upon Him

Since God possesses love, and is the distributor of love, we can rightly discern that one cannot truly love apart from a right relationship with God.

Much that is considered and displayed by this world is not love at all, at least in a biblical sense.

We wonder why our world is in the shape it is today.

Why is there so much violence and neglect?

Why is there no compassion or generosity?

It is simple: many lack genuine love.

It is not just in the world that a lack of genuine love is the problem, Let’s go a bit further.

Why is there so much turmoil and division in so many church congregations today?

The answer remains the same: a lack of genuine love.

We cannot love as God would have us too and carry bitterness or anger toward our brothers and sisters.

We cannot love as God does and have a self-consumed, self-righteous attitude.

Genuine love would solve the majority of problems we encounter today in and outside of the church.

II. The Interrogation Given

If you or I were to be arrested for a crime there is something that would need to take place after an arrest. They would take you into a small room and begin to lay out what they had and begin asking you some questions.

There are two things that will take place during the Interrogation Evidence of the crime will be but on display in front of you proving you had something to do with it and they will begin to ask you questions that will allow them to examine your emotions and reactions.

so what John is really asking us to do is interrogate ourselves to an extent.

The first thing that is put before us is the evidence.

A. The Evidence Displayed

(7c) – and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

John reveals one of the characteristics possessed by believers: the presence of love.

Those who love as God would have us to, is born of Him and knows Him.

Our love for one another is a genuine mark of salvation.

Really this should come as no surprise.

When we are born again in Christ, reconciled to God through Him, we become a new creature.

The anger and hatred of the past is replaced with the love and compassion of God.

Love revealed from someone is just an outward manifestation of the inward change wrought thorough salvation.

Christians will be known and recognized for their love for one another.

That love stands as a genuine testimony of one’s conversion.

We are simply reflecting the attributes of our Father and Savior.

1 Peter 1:22 KJV 1900

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Christian love is a special kind of love. Therefore it is a valid test of true Christian Faith.

Since God is love and we claim a personal relationship with Him there must be of necessity a revelation of His love in how we live.

A child of God has been born of God therfore they share God’s divine nature.

Since God is love Christians must love one another.

Not only have we been “born of God,” but we also “know God.”

In the Bible, the word know has a much deeper meaning than simply an intellectual acquaintance or understanding.

For example, the verb know is used to describe the intimate union of husband and wife (Gen. 4:1).

To know God means to be in a deep relationship to Him—to share His life and enjoy His love.

This knowing is not simply a matter of understanding facts; it is a matter of perceiving truth (cf. 1 John 2:3–5).

What God is determines what we ought to be.

“As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

The fact that Christians love one another is evidence of their fellowship with God and their sonship from God, and it is also evidence that they know God.

True theology (the study of God) is not a dry, impractical course in doctrine—it is an exciting day-by-day experience that makes us Christlike!

B. The Examination Required

(8) – He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Just as there is a positive affirmation of the new birth through love, John gives us the negative affirmation as a lack of conversion through the absence of love.

John reveals plainly, those who do not love, do not know God, for God is love.

We must understand John is refering back to the same kind of love that he mentions in v.7

Certainly many unsaved people love their families and even sacrifice for them.

And no doubt many of these same people have some kind of intellectual understanding of God.

What, then, do they lack?

They lack a personal relationship with God.

To paraphrase 1 John 4:8, “The person who does not have this divine kind of love has never entered into a personal, relationship with God.

What he knows is in his head, but it has never gotten into his heart.”

We cannot be in a right relationship with the Lord and not show forth the very essence of who He is in love.

If there is never any love felt or shown for others, it is a good indication that one has never been converted from sin in salvation .

A large quantity of radioactive material was stolen from a hospital. When the hospital administrator notified the police, he said: “Please warn the thief that he is carrying death with him, and that the radioactive material cannot be successfully hidden. As long as he has it in his possession, it is affecting him disastrously!”

A person who claims he knows God and is in union with Him will be personally affected by this relationship.

A Christian ought to become what God is, and “God is love.”

To argue otherwise is to prove that one does not really know God!

[Wiersbe; Be Series]

Now here at the end of verse 8 where it says “God is Love” does not mean that “love is God.”

the fact that two people “love each other” does not mean that their love is necessarily holy.

It has accurately been said that “love does not define God, but God defines love.”

Much that is called “love” in modern society bears no resemblance or relationship to the holy, spiritual love of God.

Yet we have all seen the banners saying “God is love!” displayed at many gay festivals, and where young people are “doing their own thing”—as if one could dignify immorality by calling it “love.”

God is love therefore, His love is a holy love, and His holiness is expressed in love.

All that God does, expresses all that God is.

He allows us to wake up everyday because he loves us.

He gives you another breath because he loves you

He grants you another day because He loves you

He loves you so much that he did the most loving thing just so you and I could receive our independence from sin.

so Lastly we see...

III. The Independence Received

(9-10) – These verses reveal that love is not just an emotion we feel and express, but also a force of liberation and peace.

With that in mind I want to Consider the Independence we have recieved because of God

It was recieved:

A. By The Manifestation of Love

(9a) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world.

As believers we are well aware of the coming of Christ into this world to offer Himself the atoning sacrifice for sin, and yet it is still amazing.

God knew, prior to creation, that sin would enter the human race.

He knew there would have to be a perfect sacrifice to atone for sin.

He knew His only begotten Son would be the only one worthy to atone.

He loved us enough to send His Son to this world in order to bear our sin and suffer the judgment we deserved.

God didn’t just tell us He loved us through His Word, He showed that great love as He sent His Son to die for our sin.

There is no greater manifestation of love than this.

God could’ve left us to ourselves and forced us to endure the wrath we deserved. He could’ve condemned us all to hell, but in His great love He offered His Son!

B. By The Reconciliation of Love

(9b) that we might live through him.

Isn’t that amazing? God loved us enough to provide eternal life through His Son.

In Christ we live!! While in sin we were separated from God and destined for eternal death and destruction,

but in Christ we inherit eternal life.

We no longer have to fear death, but have the assurance of life.

That in itself is enough to shout about, but I rejoice that we don’t have to wait until we depart from this life to enjoy living.

The saved are alive in Christ living as this very moment!

Christ died so that we might live “through Him” (1 John 4:9) ,“for Him” (2 Cor. 5:15), and “with Him” (1 Thes. 5:9–10).

A sinner’s desperate need is for life, because he is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

It is something of a paradox that Christ had to die so that we may live!

We can never probe the mystery of His death, but this we know: He died for us (Gal. 2:20

Galatians 2:20 KJV 1900

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

C. By The Conception of Love

(10a)—Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,

This reveals the birth of love within our hearts.

This passage deals with agape love, God’s love.

It is impossible to love apart from God, and we would never know love had God not loved us.

God offered His love,

We could never have loved God or anyone else had He not loved us first!

D. By The Propitiation of Love

(10b) and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We have talked about the propitiation of Christ for our sins when John spoke of it in 2:2.

His sacrifice on the cross fully satisfied the righteous demands of holy God.

He paid the debt we owed for sin.

It totally removed the condemnation we deserved and the judgment we faced.

The saved by grace are viewed in light of the holiness of the Son rather than the guilt of our sin.

We are reconciled to God, made acceptable to Him, and heirs of the promise through the propitiation of Christ.

How can God forgive sinners and still be consistent with His holy nature? The answer is the cross.

There Jesus Christ bore the punishment for sin and met the just demands of the holy Law.

But there, also, God reveals His love and makes it possible for men to be saved by faith.

It is impossible to consider the foundational truths of the Bible and miss the love of God for fallen humanity.

He spared not His only begotten Son, sending Him to become the propitiation for our sin.

What love was bestowed upon sinful men, providing the means of salvation and reconciliation to God! 2 Cor. 5:21 Gal. 3:13 1 Peter 3:18

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Galatians 3:13 KJV 1900

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

1 Peter 3:18 KJV 1900

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Conclusion:

I rejoice for the love of God that is shown to humanity. There can be no doubt of His great love for us.

Christ revealed His great love as He suffered in our place on the cross. This was all done to provide for our salvation.

Had God not loved us, Christ would never have come to earth to die for sin.

We ought to share this great love with others. Do you love as God would have us to? Do you know Christ as your Savior? Have you experienced this great love? If not, you can!