1 John 4:7-21
Notes
Transcript
Background
Last week we had a guest preacher who covered the first section of 1 John 4, and talked about false spirits and false prophets. The overall theme of the book is knowing who God is, believing in His Son Jesus Christ, and having assurance of eternal life.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Chapter 4 serves as a treatise on the gospel message given to us in John 3.
16 “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.
John expounds on all of these thoughts in this chapter, giving us a clearer picture of what Jesus was conveying.
In a contrast of last week’s look at false spirits and prophets, John again identifies how we can know who is of God: if we love one another.
As we’ve already seen from John, this is the message of the gospel.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Love is from God - He is the source of all love.
Even non-believers reflect this attribute of God, though they do so in rebellion.
True love is lacking due to the rejection of Jesus Christ.
We learn something new about God in v. 8 - God is love.
This makes sense, considering He is the source.
Love is a part of God’s nature and is the standard by which love is defined.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
But it goes back even to Jesus being sent, as we saw earlier.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God is the ultimate expression of love; there can be no love without God.
God is the ultimate expression of love; there can be no love without God.
God loved us while we were His enemies - by nature children of the devil and deserving God’s wrath.
As we saw in the last chapter, that we are to imitate Christ and His self-sacrifice.
16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
This reminds us of the standard by which we love: Jesus. He gave Himself up for us as the ultimate possible expression of love.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
Propitiation - The payment made to atone for wrongdoing.
We saw in ch. 1 that all sin and are in need of payment to atone of their wrongdoings.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Christ came to pay this debt, as the ultimate expression of love, so that we might become children of God and be cleansed.
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;
12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
As seen here, this is accomplished through belief.
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Thus, the gospel is presented yet again.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
John continues to exhort that we must love one another.
This is the 3rd section within this epistle that talks about loving one another.
V. 12 begins with an interesting concept - no one has seen God at any time.
Isn’t this contradictory? Didn’t the patriarchs (i.e. Adam) see God?
30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
This concept here is that no one has, or can, see God’s true face and live.
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
God is capable of disguising Himself (Abraham), but typically does not do this, but shows Himself in miraculous ways.
18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
This reveals another purpose for Christ’s coming - to explain God to humanity.
3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
It is the Spirit who gives evidence that we belong to God.
If you have experienced this, it’s your job to tell people about it.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It is the job of the Church to testify about Christ and the gospel.
It is the job of the Church to testify about Christ and the gospel.
Remember what was commanded - love one another.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
Our confession of Christ shows that God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us, by paying the debt for our sins.
Because of this, we have no fear of judgment.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Those who have not received His mercy will be judged.
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
There is no punishment for those who are clothed in Christ’s righteousness.
Once again, we understand that deeds come as a result of understanding God: we love because God loved us first.
John reiterates the idea we saw in the beginning of this letter - saying you know/love God can be proven false by your actions.
In just this section, we are told that we should love each other 5 times, with the opposite example given once.
Since God is love, it only makes sense that we as His children should also love.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
God is the ultimate expression of love; there can be no love without God.
It is the job of the Church to testify about Christ and the gospel.
Next week, we will continue through 1 John.