The Certainty of God’s Love

The Nature of God - God is Love

1 John 4:1-6 Test the Spirits

The compass points North. Responds to unseen force. Must be always corrected to ignore error. Look at the binnacle of a ship

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” δοκιμαζω - examine, test, approve.

Matt 7:15 ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

1 John 4:6 “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,”

2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed

ὀρθοτομέω - Correctly seeing the indivisibility of the Word of God

ορθος - correctly

τομος - indivisibility

How? - The Holy Spirit will guide you in all truth

The anvil is struck by the hammer, and the anvil never strikes in return. Yet the anvil wears the hammer out. Patience baffles fury and vanquishes malice. The nonresistance principle involves a resistance which is irresistible.

Charles Spurgeon

The anvil is God’s love. We don’t attack the false prophets we stand in the love of God.

1 John 4:7-11 God is Love

1 John 1:5 God is Light - Righteous, Holy, Perfection

John 4:24 God is Spirit - Not contained by the natural

1 John 4:8,16 God is Love - ἀγάπη - a noun that can’t sit still, an action word that needs an object. A Theological attribute of His essence and eternal character. No one else is Love. God doesn’t need anything, but love as we understand it needs an object - God created the object for His love.

1 John 4:9 “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

see John 3:16 - “The Gospel”

1 John 4:10 “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.”

First Love - Rev 2:4 Ephesus left their first love.

God is a missionary God => sends His own Son

1 John 2:2 “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

1 John 4:12-16 Abide in God - Abide in Love

μενω used 4x’s here - to remain, to stay, to reside.

1 John 4:12 “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”

τελος - completed, perfected , finished

1 John 4:13 “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

We know ( the certainty of abiding) a completed fact.

2 Cor 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

If this is true then everything is true. Every gift of grace is ours.

1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”

John 4:42 “Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.””

Men of Sychar to Samaritan Woman. They invited Jesus to abide with them.

1 John 4:17-19 Perfect Love

2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

1 John 4:17 “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

τελος - completed, finished. We grow in grace and knowledge and we are finished in love

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

We trust, have assurance, faith, grace, knowledge, unity, and intimate walk with the Savior.

First Love - and we reflect His love

1John 4:20-21 Love by Faith and Love by Sight

We follow the course in our lives directed by God’s love. Our faith and sight are being distracted by the world and self interests. True north is the unchanging “God is Love”

The correcting force to keep us on track is grace and truth.

Through fog, dark night, storms of life these never change. God is Love.