Loving God Because of the Spirit | 1 John 4:13-16
Notes
Transcript
[Scripture Reading]
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
Tonight I want us to be honest with ourselves and really think about who we are. Because tonight we’re taking a test. And this isn’t a test that I’m gonna be grading; you don’t even really HAVE to tell me your answers (though I’d love to hear them). But I’m about to give you the answer key so that you can grade your own test. And this might be the most important test you’ve ever taken. Because your eternity is at stake.
We’re about to tackle one of the hardest topics to understand in Christianity. The Trinity. Now if you don’t know what the Trinity is, it basically says that God is one God, but He is 3 persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… If I didn’t just blow your mind with that statement then you’re not really thinking about what I just said. I’m about to preach an entire sermon on the Trinity and that idea STILL blows my mind. We worship one God, but He’s also three entities.
Now tonight we are going to be talking about all 3 persons of the Trinity, but as I’m sure you’ll come to notice, we are gonna really emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit.
And through our understanding of the Trinity and particularly the Spirit’s role in the Trinity, we’re gonna have a definitive test to see if we really are saved. This is going to prove to us if we really are a child of God.
So let’s dive in. The first person of the Trinity that we’re gonna talk about tonight is the Holy Spirit.
1. We receive the Spirit. (v. 13)
1. We receive the Spirit. (v. 13)
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.
The Holy Spirit is perhaps the most misunderstood person of the Trinity. Which is a bit ironic because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. It says here in verse 13 that God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us. Through the Holy Spirit, God lives in us.
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
So not only do you have to have the Spirit of God living in you to be saved as it says in Romans 8, but the Spirit of God also controls you. By the definition of the name “Holy Spirit” it is both holy and spirit. And when the Spirit comes to live in us, it makes us more holy.
In fact, the Holy Spirit even does this when we are first saved. It is by the Holy Spirit working in our hearts that we first see that we are sinful people in need of a Savior then take that step to accept Jesus as that Savior.
One big analogy that John uses in this letter is light. If you just think about the way light works; when a light is first turned on, it illuminates the room. When the Holy Spirit comes into your heart, He shows you how you fall short God’s perfect standard. He shows you your sin.
But He doesn’t just show you your sin, He shows you that there is a Savior that died for those sins.
And that’s what our second test is about. The second test has to do with Jesus.
2. We confess the Son. (vv. 14-15)
2. We confess the Son. (vv. 14-15)
14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
John says here in verse 14 that he has seen and is testifying that Jesus has come to this Earth as the Son of God to be the Savior of the world.
Now remember at this point, the Bible hadn’t been compiled yet. So it was through the apostles and the prophets of that day that the gospel was spread. So that’s a huge statement to hear from someone if you’re receiving this in John’s time. That someone has seen with their own eyes the promised Messiah and that He has saved you.
Then John writes that all who confess Jesus as the Son of God have God living in them (referring to the Holy Spirit living in our hearts).
And notice how John writes that. He doesn’t say, “All who declare Jesus is the Son of God then have God living in them.” He says they already have God living in them.
Going back to what I was saying about the Holy Spirit softening our heart, John specifically writes here that it is through the Spirit working in your heart that you are able to declare that Jesus is the Son of God.
You see so many people miss heaven by 18 inches. They hear about Jesus and know who He is in their head, but their heart is not willing to accept Him.
Something we’ve talked about many times is the fruits of the Spirit. That through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we will bear good fruit. And we also see Jesus described as the vine with us as the branches.
Y’all turn to John 15
1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.
Now as we talked about just a second ago, it is through the Spirit working in our hearts that we are able to accept Jesus. So it is through the Holy Spirit that we as a branch abide in Jesus as the vine. And through us being attached to the vine, we can produce fruit.
We also see in Galatians 5 that the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
The Holy Spirit leads us to Christ. Not just when we are saved but when we are growing in our relationship with God as well.
Those who belong to Christ nail their sinful nature to the cross. Through the Holy Spirit, we nail what we want on the cross so we can be led to something better. Something eternal.
And through our hearts being changed by the Holy Spirit, we become more like Jesus. We live like Jesus lived. We bear these fruits that we see in Galatians 5.
Now you won’t instantly become a saint. Becoming more holy takes time. The Holy Spirit is going to use the Word of God, biblical community, prayer, even life experiences to make you into a holy person. But it will happen if you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart.
3. We abide in the Father (vv. 13-16)
3. We abide in the Father (vv. 13-16)
16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
Other translations say abide in God.
I want to focus specifically on the phrase “we have put our trust in His love.”
Through the Holy Spirit working in your heart, you are able to trust in the love of God.
You know the Father had a plan before the world even existed. He created Adam and Eve knowing they’d eat the fruit. He helped Israel knowing they’d turn away from Him. He sent His Son knowing the world would kill Him. And if you have accepted Jesus into your heart as your Savior, He gave you His Spirit and promised you eternal life knowing you’d continue to sin every day.
Yet He loved you and continues to love you anyway. He gave you a beautiful world to live in, a life with material possessions, a community of friends and family, not to mention that you get to enjoy eternity in heaven.
It was the Father’s will to send the Son.
38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
Yet many think of the Father as the angry person of the Trinity. No, He loves you more than you can imagine. It was His will for you to spend eternity with Him.
But what’s gonna happen when you face a difficult situation in your life? Are you gonna blame God? Are you gonna blame other people? Or are you going to trust that God still loves you and He is going to walk with you through this, making you stronger.
Now if I haven’t made it clear, this sermon is about the Trinity, but it’s more about the Holy Spirit than anything. And John started with the Holy Spirit in this passage for a reason. Because the purpose of the passage was to give a test to see if you were a Christian, not explain who the Trinity is. He just uses the Trinity to explain this test.
So we started with who the Holy Spirit is and how He softens our heart. And through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we are able to realize that we are a sinner and our eyes are fixed on Jesus so we see that there is someone who has saved us from our sins. And this wasn’t for no reason, this was because God loves us. And we can trust that God loves us and is going to walk with us no matter what we do or go through.
And this isn’t just something we’re faced with when we’re saved. It’s something we walk through daily. The Holy Spirit continues to illuminate our hearts and reveal to us more sins that we commit every day that we didn’t even know were sins, He fixes our eyes on Christ and shows us who we are called to model our lives after, and gives us the trust to know that the Lord will continue to love us and provide a way for us to overcome our sin.
I said last week that it is only by the Holy Spirit that we are able to love God. And we just walked through how the Spirit does that in our hearts.
So let’s self evaluate. Is the Spirit living in you? Has the message of the gospel moved from something you’ve just heard and know about to something you’ve personally experienced in your heart? Have you put your faith and trust in God that even though life might be difficult, you know that He has a plan. And are you bearing fruit? Are you continuing to live more like Jesus did?
There’s your answer key. Time to grade yourself. We’ll talk more in small groups.
[Let’s pray]