1 John 4:13-21 (2)
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By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Last week we covered and we talked about why we should love one another. And it is because God is love. When we come to an understanding of how God loved us when we didn’t love him it blows you away. It will fill your heart so much that you can’t help but love God and the people of God.
The love of God that he poured in you fills you so much that it flows over not only to the people of God but also your enemies. Because remember Christs’ love for us? He loved us when we were his enemies.
Not just loving the brothers and sisters in Christ in your own little church but the brothers and sisters in Christ in your little church, in the little church down the street, the little church over there and the brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.
It is important for many reasons and last week we ended with one of those reasons.
And that’s not normal is it? That is why Chapter 4 verse 7 tells us that this kind of love is not from man but from God.
That reason was because No One has ever seen God. Look at chapter 4:12 again.
That brings us to our text this morning so open your Bibles to .
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
This epistle was written to give these people assurance of their salvation. False teachers had come in and denied the deity of Christ. The went against the apostolic teachings, they hated some in the church and more than likely they hated John. So…John writes this letter to confront the false teachers and their false teachings and give the people here assurance of their salvation.
The main point of this letter is found in Chapter 5 verse 13.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
There are some professing believers that say it would be very presumptuous to think that you could KNOW you were going to Heaven. The reason someone would think this is because they don’t quite understand the gospel, the good news of Christ.
You can’t REALLY KNOW if you are going to Heaven until the end and then you find out.
This is a works-based understanding not a gospel centered understanding.
Im here to tell you that you can KNOW that you have eternal life…and not because there is some hidden code of Scriptures Im going to flip and turn to and then have you turn here then there…just look at the main point of this Epistle:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
Now wouldn’t that be nice to know? Wouldn’t it be nice to KNOW that you have eternal life?
Now wouldn’t that be nice to know? Wouldn’t it be nice to KNOW that you have eternal life?
there are some Christians who worry to death if they are truly saved or not....
There are so many Christians that DON’T know they have eternal life. T
That person is probably here this morning.
And…there are people who THINK they are Christians…but TRULY are not Christian.
And it is likely that that person is here as well.
My prayer is that when we go through this we will either have confidence of our salvation or that we repent, turn to Christ and put our faith in Him Alone.
Let’s read our text and see what God says:
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Lets pray:
So many times we read the Bible to find out “what do I need to do”. We have this idea that we can do anything if we put our minds to it right?
We read the Bible and look for these boxes to check to make sure we have them all checked so we go to Heaven. We say things like, “is this a salvation issue?” when someone tries to teach us something in God’s word. What are we really saying when we say that? We are saying that if it doesn’t have to do with my salvation, if it is not a box I need to check, then Im not worried about it…I don’t care about it. All I care about is what do I need to do to go to Heaven and once we get that down lets just relax and hang out.
What did Jesus say about that? Look at on the screen
But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
I say all that to point out verse 13 here in .
Lets look at it and see what it says:
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
As I was studying this week one of the commentaries pointed this out.
This verse doesn’t say, “By this we abide in him” as if there is something WE DO that keeps us in Christ. Many people may read it this way but that is not what it says.
Let me say that again, it doesn’t say “by this we abide in him” as if there is some box we are about to check. That if I ‘believe and love’ then I will remain a Christian. THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS SAYING.
Believing and loving are not conditions for salvation but the evidence OF your salvation.
The text says… “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
We say we want people to know Christ, we want people to come and know the love of the Father…then let them see us love one another.
So don’t you want to know if the Spirit lives in you?
How do you really know if the Spirit of God is in you?
John gives us a few things to check in ourselves to see if we are truly a Christian or if we are truly deceived.
Do you believe in the triune God of the Bible
and do you believe that the second person of the Trinity was sent by the Father to be the savior of the world?
Do you confess that Jesus is the Son of God?
Look at verses 14 .
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Verse 14 says the Father SENT his Son. It doesn’t say that the Father sent Himself. God the Father sent God the Son. Do you believe that?
Verse 14 says the Father SENT his Son. It doesn’t say that the Father sent Himself. God the Father sent God the Son. Do you believe that?
Look at verse 18 on the screen...
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
The Son of God, who is God, made the Father, who is God, known.
And guess what…when we, CHRISTIANS, love one another, God (the Holy Spirit) abides in us and his love is perfected in us (thats ). When Christians love other Christians we make God known. How awesome is that.
So, you want to know if you have the Spirit of God in you?
Can you testify that God the Father sent God the Son
and can you testify that God the Father sent God the Son to be the Savior of the world?
Now we are not universalists here at The Parish of the Redeemer. We are a protestant/evangelical body of believers in Jesus Christ.
This is not saying that Jesus came and saved the whole world without exception. We believe orthodox Christianity that Christ is the only way unto salvation and this is what John is saying here. This text is not saying that Christ is the Savior of the world without exception.
Christ is only going to save those who believe and trust in Him. There are exceptions to who Christ is going to save.
He will only save those who believe in Him.
John is saying that Christ came to save sinners in this world from every tribe, every tongue and every nation.
Anyone in the world wherever they are in the world…if any person in this world would put their faith and trust in Christ Jesus then they will be saved from the wrath of God at judgement.
Look at verse 15 again:
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
This confession is not just a tip your hat confession that Jesus is the Son of God.
It is tied into what we said earlier as to who Christ is.
Do you confess him as God, the Son of God, the God Man who came to this earth born of a virgin, lived a perfect life and was put to death under Pontius Pilot, buried and three days later rose from the grave. He was witnessed by many people and ascended into Heaven and one day he is coming back.
Can you confess that?
IF you can truly confess that Christ, the one true Christ sent by the one true Father then God abides in you and you in God.
The physical body of Christ is no longer here but the body of Christ is…and when we, the church, love one another…people see Christ, they see the love of the Father.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Do you believe the love that God has for us? Do you believe the love that God has for you?
It is hard to believe isn’t it?
It is hard to believe because that type of love is not of this world.
It is hard to believe because that type of love is not of this world. This world tells you that you have to earn it, you have to keep performing to maintain it or you will lose the love of God.
this world tells you that you have to earn it,
you have to keep performing to maintain it or you will lose the love of God.
that is what makes sense to us.
God’s word tells us that it was a free gift of Grace so Believe the Word. Abide, rest/remain in that love of God and God will rest/remain in you.
When you get what “we think love is” confused with what God says his love is as revealed in Scripture we cheapen his love. We turn his love into a conditional love. Now, no professing Christian will come out and ‘say’ God’s love is conditional but when we don’t “believe the love that God has for us” we turn it into a conditional love.
So believe it. Drink it up! The good news of Christ is that he loved you when you didn’t love him.
I want to say a little more here:
This kind of love, that only comes from the Father (verse 7)…this kind of love that pushes you to love others with agapé love…it only comes from the Holy Spirit.
Why? Because it is a love that only comes from God.
The person who does not have the Holy Spirit does not understand these things. They don’t understand that kind of love. This sounds like foolishness to them. It doesn’t make sense. There is probably someone listening to me right now thinking I am out of my mind talking like this. They are probably thinking “this is ridiculous”.
It goes back to what I said last week. When you don’t have a biblical understanding of who God is we make an idol we call God.
Follow me here:
Here is what makes sense in the world:
I’ll love you and I’ll be here for you IF you see how you have wronged me and how bad you have treated me. Once you see how bad you have treated me and THEN come to me and beg and plead for me to forgive you…then I’ll forgive you and we can be friends.
BUT…I’m keeping a close eye on you. You better not keep messing up because if you do then I am going to have to end this relationship.
Isn’t that how so many people view the love of God.
When this is our view of God, it is not the God of the Bible. This is a ‘LITTLE g’ god that we created and all it is is a better US. Its my moral values pushed to the max.
That kind of god makes sense to us though.
But a God that loved me and died for me and paid for all of my sins, all of them…past, present, and future…God sent His Son and satisfied the wrath of God for me when I was his enemy…he loved me BEFORE I loved him…and he will never leave me and he will see to it that I never leave him because I no longer live buy he now lives in me…Thats CRAZY. But it is what the Word of God says.
But this doesn’t make sense to someone who doesn’t have the Spirit of God in them.
Check this out...
Turn to and look at verse 10-14
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
This love for God and for our brothers and sisters in Christ did not originate with us…again, chapter 4:7 tells us that this kind of love is from God.
verse 10 of Chapter 4 tells us, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.
So back to verse 16… how have we come to KNOW and to BELIEVE the love that God has for us?
Because of the Spirit he has given us!
IF it wasn’t for His Spirit that was given to us (vs. 13)…we wouldn’t accept this truth. We would not be able to understand these truths.
Another way that you know that you have the Spirit of God living in you is that you do not fear judgement.
We could talk about this for a lot more but we are going to move on…
Look at Verse 17
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
“By this is love perfected with us...”
“By this is love perfected with us...”
“Perfected” : to become thoroughly or entirely accomplished.
“By this is love perfected”…by God abiding in you and you abiding in Him God’s plan is accomplished in us! It is not in our human nature to love one another but it is His love in us that causes us to love his people this way and it is His love in us to love our enemies. And it is all for His Glory.
We, the church, stand out in this world like Christ did when we are abiding in His Love.
and verse 18...
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Are you truly a Believer? Are you truly a Christian? Or are you deceived?
“There is no fear in love”.
Let me put it this way...
Why is it that you do not just openly live a life of just absolute crazy sin? I mean…we are all good “church people” here.
What if you could
If you could do anything without getting caught would you do it?
If you could rob a bank without anyone knowing you robbed it…without you ever getting caught…would you do it?
Would you have an affair on your spouse if you knew you would never get caught…would you do it?
Some of you might be thinking… “yeah, I would if I knew for a fact I would never get caught”.
The point of this verses is that right there.
See, its the heart of the matter isn’t it. The only reason many people DON’T DO what they REALLY want to do in their heart is the fear of punishment. It is the fear of punishment that keeps them from doing it.
they don’t want to go to jail
they don’t want to lose their family or go through a divorce
See, if it weren’t for the punishment they would do the things their hearts want to do.
So...Are you following Christ because you love Him or is it because you fear the punishment if you don’t?
Are you following Christ because you love Him or is it because you fear the punishment if you don’t?
The reason many people come to Christ is because they fear the flames of hell…not because they love Him and want to be with Him.
Not because they love righteousness but because they fear punishment.
The religious person, on the outside is doing all the right things…they are feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, coming across as loving…but in their heart they are only doing it because “they have to”…they are only doing it because they fear the punishment if they dont. It is not done in love.
Our nature is to fear…but God’s love DRIVES OUT FEAR! When we ABIDE/REST in God’s love it drives out our fear of punishment.
And this has been all of us at times. I have been guilty of this. But we must see it and repent from it. We must recognize that it is not of God and rest in God’s perfect love.
And this has been all of us at times. I have been guilty of this. But we must see it and repent from it.
So...We don’t love God because we fear punishment…look at verse 19...
We love because he first loved us.
See what it doesn’t say! It doesn’t say, “We love because we are scared to death of hell and being burned forever.”
No…it says, “We love because he first loved us”
This type of love, agape love, a love that is strong, a non-sexual love for a person and their good as understood by God’s moral character, a love characterized by a willingness to forfeit your rights and privileges for another’s behalf....that kind of love is not in our fallen nature. That kind of love only comes from the Father.
And ONLY because the Father gave us that kind of love can we love Him and believe in Him.
It is only because he first loved us with this type of love that we can love our brothers and sisters this way.
This is Christian love.
And that takes us to verse 20:
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
I don’t think I need to spend too much time on this one do I? This is pretty clear.
This word “hate” is to dislike intensely…to have an aversion towards a person.
You can’t say that you love God and not love your brother.
Verse 21:
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Our love is a response to God’s love. It is a response. Our abiding in Him, our resting in Him, our Love for Him, our Love for our brothers and sisters in Christ are responses to His Love for us.
A Christians love comes from God…verse 7 tells us that this love comes from God. In our natural state we would never know this kind of love.
We know it because He has given us His Spirit.
And What is the FIRST FRUIT of the Spirit? Love!
The whole Law is summed up in what? LOVE! Love God and Love your neighbor.
Listen to this:
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
MATTHEW 22:34-
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
DO you want to know if you have the Spirit of God living in you?
You want to know if He has given you His Spirit?
Do you Believe that the Father sent the Son?
Do you believe He was sent to be the savior of the world? That there is no other way to the Father except through Him?
Do you Love Him…not because you FEAR Him but because you realize the great love with which he loved you. That when you were an enemy of His…by his grace He saved you
And do you love the brothers? Do you love your sisters in Christ?
and a side note to that…we aren’t the ones who determine who is and who isn’t our brothers in Christ. How convenient that would be…we would just deem those we don’t want to love as not our brother or sister in Christ wouldn’t we. Thats called legalism, religion…that is not gospel centered Christianity.
Christ will send his angels to gather the wheat and separate the weeds.
Our job is to love.
Let me read you
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—