Well, we have been reminded in
this past few days of the folly of men and the passing of this
world and the nature of men as we look on these wars and rumors
of war and how foolish men are to take comfort or have any reliance
upon such things. You know, the United States is
the most powerful nation on earth as far as men are concerned.
I don't think that there can be much doubt about that as far
as military might is concerned. And, you know, I fear that sometimes
for our nation that we are such a powerful nation in the earth.
Because when men have power in their hands, they're often caused
not to look to the one who has all power. And we might have
the biggest bombs. and the most formidable forces
that there are in the earth, but the Lord can in a moment
turn those things to nothing. Egypt had the strongest army
that was ever seen in the world up until the time that they sought
to destroy. God's people and then they realized
they had no strength at all when they pursued the destruction
of God's people and the Lord caused the chariot wheels to
come off. You know, the Egyptian army was
drowned in the Red Sea, but the reason they were drowned in the
Red Sea is because the wheels came off of their chariots. And
they couldn't go forward or backward, and the sea closed in on them.
So, you know, we've seen a demonstration of America's might and power
in these last few days, or yesterday, as we unleashed those bombs on
Iran, but we can't take any comfort in that. I mean, you know, I
don't have any real sympathy for Iran. I have sympathy for
the people of God that live in Iran, but, you know, they got
what they deserve, no doubt about that, and, you know, we'll see
in the next few days what might be the outcome of all of that
because uh... there are wars and rumors of
wars will be to the time of the end these things will never end
and it's foolish when men think well now we've secured peace
you know we're gonna we're gonna move forward the world's gonna
be at peace no the world will never be at peace until the lord
comes back And then he will demonstrate what peace is as the wicked are
destroyed and the new heavens and a new earth are created.
So, you know, let us not boast or glory in the might of America's
power. because it can be gone in a heartbeat. And you know, the Lord can send
the hornets into the land. Think about, you have often thought
in with humor, you know, how the Lord used the hornets to
drive out some of the people that were in the, that opposed
the people of God. And you know, there's few things,
it doesn't make any difference how, uh... big a rifle a man
has or how many grenades he's got on him uh... if a swarm of hornets comes on
any army on earth we'll flee you know it's every man for himself
I mean heck with all these enemies or whatever we got we got to
preserve our own self and that's that's exactly I mean the power
of God it's it's You know, we don't have any idea. I mean,
so let's don't take any glory or, you know, have any thoughts
of dominance when we see these things happen. You know, may
the Lord's will be done. We believe that it is being done. At every turn, it doesn't make
any difference who's in power in any country or whatever, the
Lord put them there. And you know, as wicked a nation
as we might think Iran is, know this, that God is the one that
ordained the government of that country, and he'll ordain the
destruction of that government if it pleases him, or he'll sustain
it as he sees fit. But we'll glory in the Lord.
We'll trust not in chariots or horses. We're looking in chapter
four, and I appreciated Brother Tim's comments there earlier,
was he pointed out, as we had looked even a few weeks ago,
or yeah, been a few weeks ago, concerning what is the commandment
of the Lord. that we believe the gospel. That's
the commandment. If you don't know what the commandment
of God is, that's it. That is the commandment of God. We're looking in chapter four,
and we looked at some of these verses last week, and I want
to read some of them. In verse nine, In this was manifested
the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we love God. but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we. in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us. If a man say I love God and hateth
his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from
him that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now we had
mentioned about this word propitiation, which is a word we don't ever
use. I don't know that I've ever used
that word in conversation other than perhaps talking about what
the scripture says about that. It simply means an expiation,
a cleansing, a taking away, a putting aside. And Christ is indeed the
putting away of our sin. Now, there's a word that's used
in the Old Testament that is very similar but is not identical,
is also used in the New Testament a couple of times, and that's
the word atonement. And the word atonement and the
word propitiation, while they have many common threads in them. They're not exactly the same
thing. An atonement is what took place under the law. It is a
satisfaction of the law. It is that wherein the law is
fulfilled. And we see a picture of that
in the Old Testament sacrifices when the lambs and the goats
and all that stuff was slain before the Lord and offered there
in the temple, in the tabernacle and in the temple. uh... subsequently
there was a though we know that as scripture says the blood of
bulls and goats never took away any sin it never actually took
away sin but at least in the covenant of the law and in the
minds of those people who were operating under that covenant
before the Lord according to the Lord's purpose there was
a putting away of sin Temporarily, in their mind at least, but then
they had to come back and do it again. So the atonement had
to be made over and over and over again. But what Christ has
done is something that includes the atonement for sin and atonement
that actually atoned for sin as he became sin for us. that
sin was indeed put away as far as the law was concerned, and
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
But this word propitiation, when it says that he is the propitiation
for our sin, is more than just simply he atoned for our sin. But it includes the word, and
in fact it's most often used translated as the word reconcile
or reconciliation. And there's a big difference
in reconciliation and atonement. Atonement is a legal aspect of
things, but reconciliation has to do with an actual application
of the atonement to the mind. Because when the atonement was
made by Jesus Christ, the sins of God's people were put away.
But that didn't do those for whom he died. When you were born
into this world, your sins, if you belonged to Christ, your
sins had been put away. You were never under the condemnation
of your sin because your sin had been atoned for in the blood
of Jesus Christ. But you didn't know anything
about it. And you lived your life in darkness without any
knowledge of what Christ had done until such time as the Lord
was pleased to open your eyes. And the propitiation for our
sin is that wherein God takes that atonement and he reconciles
us to himself. Now he didn't need reconciliation
to us. See, he was not mad at us. He didn't hate us, we hated Him. See, He didn't need to be reconciled
to us, we needed to be reconciled to Him. And that's what the gospel
is sent forth into the earth. As I believe Paul wrote, we pray
be ye reconciled to God. See that is the preaching of
the gospel is we desire that the propitiation of Christ be
seen by the people of God and that they be reconciled unto
him. Throw down your arms of rebellion.
Quit going away from Him. Recognize who you are in Christ.
And that's what John's writing about in this chapter here, is
that Christ has come as a propitiation. It's what Paul wrote about in
Hebrews when he spoke about the fact that the blood of bulls
and goats could never take away sin as pertaining to what? The conscience. But when Christ
came, He made an atonement for sin which is then applied to
the conscience. So that when we hear the gospel
and we believe it by the grace of God, we have a conscience
that is free from sin. Because we recognize, hey, our
sin is not our own. It's paid for by the blood of
Christ. We didn't know that. We weren't
born believing that. Nobody could teach us that. See,
I grew up under the sound of the gospel as faulty as it might
have been in many ways, yet that what Christ did was set forth,
but I didn't know anything about it until such time, I didn't
really know anything about it. Now I could have told you about
it from the standpoint of writing it out on a piece of paper and
saying Christ died for the sins of men, but I didn't know what
that was until such time as the Lord calls the gospel. to become
precious to me. And I heard his word and I believed
it. And I believed my sin was in
Christ. Now, again, because of the weakness
of the flesh and our fear and unbelief and whatever, we go
through life and we have an imperfect consideration of that for sure.
But the truth of it is in our mind and heart, and we believe
it. Whether we believe it or not,
we believe it. Now that might not make sense
until a man, you know, is brought to the place of true faith, he
wouldn't understand that. But you know, we believe it even
though we don't believe it. Oh, may the Lord give us a mind
and a heart to rest in him. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Now those things are vitally
connected. If he loved us, we ought also
to love one another. It's his commandment that we
believe the gospel and that we love one another. Those two things
are inseparable. They can't be taken, you can't
have one if you don't have the other. No man hath seen God at
any time. Now you know if you just took
that right at face value and you're talking about no man has
seen God. Now it is a true thing that no
man has ever climbed up into heaven and seen God. And what
it means is no man by his own power in his own ability has
ever discovered God. Now the scripture says that we
see That we're all without excuse because we have known the glory
of God just in the creation. We can't escape it, it's around
us. But yet at the same time, we
cannot know God because he dwells in the light which no man can
approach. But yet, the scripture tells
us that he has approached unto us. And he came down and he dwelt
among us. in Jesus Christ. And we have
seen Him. John said, and Paul said, we
have seen Him. We've seen Him. So it doesn't
mean here when it says no man has seen God in any time that
they haven't seen Him with their eyes. He stood there, and remember
when Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficed,
he said, Philip, have I been with you so long, and you have
not known me? He that hath, what? Seen me hath
seen the Father. Now, no man hath seen the Lord
by his own power, but the Lord has shown himself unto us. Oh, what a glorious thing. If
we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected
in us, and that is a measure of how we have seen the Lord. Because doesn't he go on to say
here, in the 20th verse, if a man say, I love God and hateth his
brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom
he hath what? Seen. How can he love God whom
he hath not seen? So we have seen Jesus Christ
in our brethren. If we don't love them, how can
we say we've seen God? How can we love God? How can
we say, oh, we wanna follow the Lord if we don't even love those
whom the Lord has made us one with? He prayed that, did he
not? He prayed for his disciples. He said, Lord, make them one.
even as we are one. Now he wasn't saying, he wasn't
praying, Lord, give them the union that you and I have, but
he says, give them union one with the other as you and I have,
make them one, that they might love one another, that there
might be no separation. Oh, what a glorious thing. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son
to be the savior of the world. He's given us of his spirit.
How else would we have ever believed? And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. Is Christ the Savior of the world?
Of course he is. I mean, there's not another one. There's no other Savior. He's
the Savior of the world. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. He is that Savior. There's no other. You know, it is that men, and this is typified in the Jews,
and as the Lord came to Nicodemus and taught him this truth. Because
Nicodemus was of the mind, of course, that the Lord loved Israel. And He does, indeed. But they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel, because there is an Israel of God, and that
is the Israel of God. And so the Lord does love His
people. He has a remnant in the earth. He loves the world, not just
one nation, Nicodemus. That's what he said to Nicodemus.
He said, for God so loved the world, Nicodemus. He didn't just
love the nation of Israel, but he loved the world. And so he
is the savior of the world. There's not another. And the scripture says that he has
a people out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue in what? The world. He is that Savior. Whosoever shall confess, whosoever
shall confess. This is not limited to any group
of people. But it is whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in
God. Why is that? Because how can a man confess
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God unless the Spirit of God
teaches him that? So it's not talking about just
a man just says that. Now when I was growing up, I
was basically taught that if you say that, Now you might not
know much about it, but if you just say it, and write it down
on this card, and join up, you know, your name right that day
was written in heaven and it can't be erased. And so all you
gotta do is sign up. That's not what it means to confess
Christ. To confess Christ, to believe
Christ. It's to desire Christ, it's to
rejoice in Christ. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because, listen to this, as he is, so are we in the world. As he is, now how is he? He's pure. He's without sin. He has given us the mind of Christ
as He is, dear brethren. See, this is why the gospel's
preached to the people of God. Now, at one time, I used to think
that we just need to go out here and preach the gospel so all
these people out here can hear and believe. But you see, the
gospel's for the people of God. We need to hear the gospel every
day. Why? Because we're filled, we have
a heart of unbelief. We have a heart that would go
away from God daily. And we need to hear the word
of God. We need to hear the gospel, the
sweet sound that tells us who we are in Christ because of what
true Christ is. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. You know, who can have boldness
in the day of judgment but a fool? I mean, if you knew that you
was fixing to be judged for all the deeds that you have ever
done, How could you be bold? You couldn't be bold if you come
in there in your own righteousness. You can't be unless you're a
fool. Now there are fools, the fool has said in his heart, there's
no God, none of this stuff makes any difference, I will go my
own way. He has no concern for this. But you see, everyone whom the
Spirit of God convinces of sin, he is not naturally bold. When the Spirit of God comes
on you and convinces you of sin, you become fearful. It's by nature. When you recognize what you are
by nature, that's a fearful place to be. But you see, He would
not have us to be in that place. As He comes and applies, the
Spirit of God teaches us in the Gospel who we are, that there's
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
As He is, so are we in the world. There's no condemnation in Christ.
Who can condemn Him? And as He is, so are we. Oh,
brethren. There is no fear in love. Perfect
love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth
is not made perfect in love. How many of y'all are perfect
in love, never have any fear? We can't. But remember this,
as he is, so are we. And it doesn't matter if in our
flesh we fear and tremble and we doubt. Christ knows his people. He knows who we are. And we know
that he is faithful. Scripture says even if we don't
believe, he is faithful. As he is, dear brother. And if
he's faithful, and we are as he is, guess what? We're faithful. We're faithful not because we
have anything in ourselves to boast of, but we're faithful
because he is. See, that's our hope. Our hope's
not that we're faithful because we're faithful. See, a lot of
people, they get hung up on being faithful. Now, brother, we exhort
one another to be faithful for sure, but we don't take any comfort
in any faithfulness. Where would you look at in your
life and say, well, buddy, I was faithful? No, I look at my life
and I say, Lord, I've never been faithful. I've never walked in
perfection before thee, but Christ has. And Christ is. And as he is in the world, so
are we. Oh, what a glorious thing. Dear
brethren, perfect love casteth out fear. See, as the Spirit
of God applies that to our heart, mind, and soul, we're not fearful. Oh, that he might do so. Because
fear hath torment. Remember Peter? He had told me
that, didn't he? The Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? Peter knew that he hadn't manifested
any love to the Lord. But the Lord loved Peter. Perfect love casteth out fear. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. That is, he is not, that fear that we have is not
perfection. In other words, we're not satisfied
to be fearful. I don't want to be fearful. You
know, I want to believe that as He is in the world, so am
I. And that's what I want to believe.
And the Spirit of God causes us to believe that. We can't
believe anything else, even though we don't believe it. We love Him. Now, what if it stopped right
there? That means something totally different, wouldn't it, than
what it actually says. We love him. People talk about,
oh, I love the Lord. What if that was just where we
stopped? Well, we love him. But it doesn't say that. It says
we love him because he first loved us. I mean every ounce
of any love you've ever had to the Lord is because He loved
you. If a man say, I love God and
hate his brother, he is a liar. Love is not his brother whom
he has seen. How can he love God whom he has not seen? Impossible. And this is his, this commandment
have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his brother
also. Why is that? Because he first
loved us. You know, that just needs to
ring in our mind constantly. We love him. And we do love him. I'm like Peter. Sometimes it's hard for me to
say, Lord, I love you. Because I know what I am by nature. But the Lord, he doesn't leave
you alone. Just like he didn't leave Peter,
he didn't ask him one time, he just kept asking him, Peter,
do you love me? And you know when the spirit
of God moves in a man's heart, And he asked him enough times.
And in his own time, he brings a man to say, yes, Lord, I love
you. Oh, what a sweet thing. When
perfect love casts out fear. And we love him because he first
loved us. Not because something we did,
but something he did. Oh, what a glorious God he is.
And if he loved us, dear brethren, we ought to love our brethren
in the same fashion. Now do we? Unfortunately not. Do we want to? If the spirit
of God works in us, we do. And we desire to love the brethren.
Why? Because he first loved us. Not
because they're worthy. I mean, you know, every one of
us could find something to get mad at one another about before
we leave today, or something we don't like that somebody said
or did, or some way they acted, or something we thought they
should have done that they didn't do, or whatever. But we love
him because he first loved us. And we love our brethren for
the same reason. May the Lord apply these things
to our heart. And may we be those in whom this
perfect love casteth out fear. Because as he is, so are we in
the world.