62-33 The Perfecting of Christian Love—Part 3

1 John 4:13-16a

Jean Taffin Marks of God’s Children “In this present life there is no greater joy or contentment, nothing more certain or necessary for rising above all the difficulties we face, than to know and feel that we are children of God.  When this foundation is laid, we can be sure that all that happens to us is in some way a blessing of the heavenly Father.  It is a means, an aid, a path that in his providence he has prepared either to lead us toward eternal life or to increase our glory in it.”

Apostle John has made it a priority to lay out this foundation of Xian assurance in 1 John.  If I had to give a title/theme of 1 John it would be “The Tests of Eternal Life and the assurance of it.”

John is concerned about the influence of false teaching—Gnostics, who were claiming they had superior knowledge which enabled them to rise above the material world in pursuit of heavenly truth.  They believed Jesus was not the redeemer or savior but a revealer.

In their denial of the person of JC, they were separating themselves from the true God and from true salvation.  One of the tests John frequently mentions is doctrinal—what do you believe about sin, God, JC?  The other test is moral/behavioral—how are you living your life?  The answer to those questions will either lead to assurance of eternal life or cause a person to question the validity of their fellowship with God.

We come to middle ch 4—seeing the confirmation of God’s love standing as the reason for Xians to love.  That leads to:  The Basis for Christian Assurance.  There are 3 things that lead us to an assurance of God’s love for us:

1) Indwelling presence/ministry of HS

2) Confession of Apostolic Testimony

3) Faith in God’s Love

We spent the past several weeks studying the HS and His ministry toward God’s people.  It amounts to a work of purification.  God the Father is continually concerned about His children’s purification/sanctification.  He has given us His Spirit as a demonstration of His love for us and His desire that we be like Him.

Now the HS reveals truth to us, teaches us truth, guides us into understanding of truth and in doing so—reveals our sin to us that we might repent of it and more closely resemble His own holiness.  That demonstrates the measure of His love for us.

God is holy and when we recognize the vast difference b/t His holiness and ours we can grow in the grace and knowledge of LJC.

Indwelling presence of HS is confirmation of God’s love and 1 basis for our assurance.

II.      Confession of Apostolic Testimony (vv 14-15)

“we” John is referring to the apostles.  The apostles were eyewitnesses to the outworking of God’s redemptive mission thru His Son JC.

One of the tests of apostleship was to be an eyewitness to the resurrection of Jesus.  The official office of Apostle was bestowed on those who primarily spent the duration of the earthly ministry of Christ with Him—apostles minus Judas, plus Matthias and Paul (untimely born).

“We have seen”—word indicates more than a causal glance at something/someone.  The idea behind this word is to perceive, studied contemplation so as to understand what one was looking at.  The apostles spent those years with Christ carefully watching Christ in order to understand Him and what they saw about Him had forever impacted those men.

1 Jn 1:1-4;  John 1:14

Peter, James & John (inner circle of friends) who had witnessed the most amazing/intimate transfiguration of Christ.  Peter describes it—2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter and John were in prison and when they were given orders to stop preaching Jesus they responded “for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Apostles beheld the Christ—that provided within them an abiding conviction that He was the truth which they continued to testify about.  The result of the studied contemplation of the apostles was an amazing spread of the gospel during the 1stcentury church.

That was an important connection—they had seen the life and works of Jesus, contemplated the meaning of it and that meaning is the subject of their testimony.

What was that meaning?  What did the apostles interpret about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ?

“Father sent Son…”

They understood that Father authored the plan of redemption before the creation of the world and that He initiated that plan by sending the Son into the world.

Gal 4:4-5

For what purpose did the father send the Son?  Several dimensions of that purpose are revealed in Scripture.  I believe the Father has overwhelming desire that His Son be glorified.

John 5:37 NASB95

37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.

John 8:54 NASB95

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’;

The account of Transfiguration—Mt 17:1-8

He came to destroy works of devil (1 Jn 3:8)

He came to be propitiation for sin (1 Jn 4:10)

Testify to the truth (Jn 18:37)

Cast fire on earth

Bring light

Do the Father’s will

The Son had overwhelming desire to glorify the Father.

John 6:38 NASB95

38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

Jn 17:1-5

1 Jn 4:15 “sent the Son to be…Savior”

The purpose behind the Son leaving the glory of Heaven and taking the form of humanity was to be the Savior.

Gk “soter”  In Gk literature term is used for both gods and men.  It is found in the LXX for judges who were “saviors” when they delivered the nation from their enemies.  God the Father is called Savior in OT.

In NT the term is applied to JC 16x.  Yet His name alone underscores the purpose of His mission as the Father sends Him.

“Jesus”—beautiful name comes from Heb “jesuah” lit “The Lord is Salvation” 911x only 1 refers to someone else (Jesus/Justus Col 4:11).

The angel revealed to Joseph that Mary would “bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The angels revealed to the shepherd on the night of His birth:

Luke 2:10–11 NASB95

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

It is an important name—with eternal consequences:

Acts 4:12 only name under heaven.

Acts 13:23 NASB95

23 “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

The concept of a savior has a rich OT background:

Saints of OT anticipated a Savior

Ps 130:7-8

God’s Promise of a Savior

Jer 23:5-6

Is 59:20

Zech 9:9

Then you have Simeon’s expression of hope: Lk 2:29-32

The question arises—to save from what?  The saving aspect of the Lord’s mission was so much more than simply to deliver from hell.

1) To save from the bondage of Satan.  We need to be delivered from the realm of Satan—from his dominion.

Col 1:13

2)  To save from bondage to the law

God’s law is written on our conscience.  He has revealed it to us thru the written word.  God’s law reveals the demands of His holiness and passes the sentence of death on all who fail to measure up—everyone.  We are held captive to the law and to its penalty from which we are set free thru Christ—Rom 8:1-2; Col 2:14-15

3)  Save from bondage to sin

Rom 6—slaves to sin.  We obey its pull.

Col 1:14; 2:13 “forgiveness” of sin.  Lit “to put away, to separate, to release us from sin’s grip that we might serve a new master.

4)  Save from realm of death

Adam’s disobedience results in death—primarily spiritual death—separation of the soul from God.  Spiritual death brought forth physical death.  Jesus came to deliver from this realm of death.

Rom 6:23

John 5:25-29

This is the apostolic testimony which John asserts Xian assurance stems from its confession.

“whoever confesses…” not simple lip service.  But genuine confession (lit. to say the same thing—to agree) stems from transformation and stimulates obedience which gives evidence that a person has true fellowship with God.

This is not just the confession of a theological truth but a personal trust in the Son J.C.

It means a recognition of everything Jesus claimed about Himself--for which the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him (Jn 5:18).

Was Jesus Christ really who He claimed to be—John says emphatically YES.  We saw Him, we testify about Him and those who make confession have assurance that God abides in him and He in God.

III.  Faith in God’s Love

John points to 2 activities of the believer regarding the experience of God’s love:

1)  Come to know

2) Come to believe.

To know God’s love speaks of acquiring a knowledge based on experience.  Perfect tense—past action with on-going results—God’s love is now possessed and believers know it.

To believe is the same word for faith.  To actually believe in something you must have a knowledge of it.  The Xian’s faith is not blind.

Burdick “A knowledge of basic facts must precede belief, for it is necessary to know what is to be believed. Faith must be intelligent or it is sheer gullibility. On the other hand, however, these two verbs appear in reverse order in John 6:69, for it is also true that faith precedes knowledge. In spiritual matters, basic facts that are perceived must be received in faith in order for one to go on to fuller knowledge.”

Knowledge precedes faith.  Faith involves 3 things:

Nolitia—knowledge of the facts of the gospel

Assensus—assent/accept the message—belieiving it to be true—even the demons do this (Jas 2:19)

Fiducia—trust, commitment—submitting your will to the truth

Faith that brings assurance is specifically in God’s love. 

Debated whether John meant God’s love for us or in us.

For us speaks of the purpose of Christ’s mission on earth—Jn 3:16.

In Us: John has been emphasizing truth that God is love.  The God who is love indwells His children and His children dwell in God therefore God’s love is in us—Rom 5:5.

We come to know and believe God’s love is in us based on the evidence John has given.  Is God working in you?  Is God actively purifying you—molding you in the image of His Son thru HS?  Do you have a greater sensitivity toward sin and desire to be pure/holy?  Have you made this confession concerning God’s Son believing that He came to save the world from sin/death? 

If you’ve said yes, then you have come to know God’s love and that ought to provide you with the joy and contentment of knowing that you are a child of God.  What a tremendous blessing that is indeed.  This is the basis for Xian Assurance, next time we’ll see the Benefits of Xian Obedience.