By the time we get to 1 John
chapter 4, God the Holy Spirit is bringing the canon of Holy
Scripture rapidly to its finish. Whether John understood this
when he wrote the epistle, I do not know. But the Spirit of God
who inspired him to write the epistle knew that he is wrapping
up the canon of Scripture, and in doing so, He warns us one
more time of the warnings he's given throughout the scriptures,
especially in the words of our Lord Jesus, and in the words
of the apostles Paul and Peter, and now in John and later in
Jude, of false prophets, anti-Christ, and false religion. He warns
us repeatedly of those things, urges us to try the spirits,
his purpose is to make us steadfast in the faith, and also his purpose
is that we who believe should walk before God with the assured
confidence of our acceptance, our salvation with God in Jesus
Christ the Lord. In the passage before us this
evening, he identifies for us what true faith is. That's my
subject, identifying true faith. Is my professed faith in Christ
true? A God-given, saving faith? Or is it false faith? So, Brother
Dunn, that's no way to give anyone assurance. Watch what the Scriptures
teach. If your faith is true, bring
it to the Word of God and examine it. And it will bear examination
and will bear witness with the Word of God in your own heart. If it is not true, I want, I
want, oh my God, if I have a refuge of lies, destroy it. Destroy
it. Don't let me perish in a refuge
of lies. And I want the same thing for
you. Examine yourselves, the Holy Spirit says, whether you
be in the faith. Not examine one another. We all like to examine other
people. We like to be judges of others. Don't do that. It's
evil. It's ungodly. It's vile. I know religion teaches it. Don't
practice it. But examine yourselves. Examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith. Know you not your
own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobate. If my faith is true, if your
faith is true, it will bear examination. Let's look at the scriptures
now tonight in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 14. Identifying true
faith, that's my subject. And we have seen and do testify
that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world. And 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 all fear, or 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? And this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now, faith in Christ is essential. Faith in Christ is the one thing
that's essential. Faith in Christ is the one thing
that's essential to salvation. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? When all things are brought to
their importance, that's the one thing that matters. Dost
thou believe on the Son of God? The issue is not whether you're
Baptist or not, or whether you're a member of this church or not.
The issue is not whether you're Calvinist or not. The issue is
this. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Faith, this faith that we speak
of in the scriptures, is an inward faith. It is a state of life
and a way of life. It is a condition of life and
the course of life. Faith is inward, a matter of
the heart, an experience of the soul. With the heart, man believeth
under righteousness. So it's more than just an intellectual
thing. Faith in Christ arises from the
experience of the soul in the new birth. If we would worship
God, we must worship Him in faith. But without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. If we would pray, We must pray
in faith, asking in faith, nothing doubting, the scripture says.
It is the prayer of faith that is saving and effectual when
the gospel is preached. Unless the word is mixed with
faith in them that hear it, it profits nothing. A true heart
of faith is one thing and the only thing that's essential to
salvation. A true heart faith is the one
thing. and the only thing essential
to salvation. When the Philippian jailer cried
out to Paul and Silas Cyrus, what must I do to be saved? They
responded immediately, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Not believe and be baptized and
you'll be saved, though I make do not in any way make less a
baptism than the scriptures do. But baptism doesn't have any
part with this matter of receiving Christ and being born of God.
Faith in Christ is the one thing essential. It is not faith and
love your brother, or faith and work well, or faith and do good. It is faith in Christ. That's
the one thing essential. Faith alone savingly unites the
perishing sinner to the powerful Savior. And this faith is the
gift of God. It is the operation of God. It
is that which God performs in us. I've said this so many times
recently, but it needs to be said many more times. It is not
just our initial belief in Christ that's the gift of God. If we
believe him now, it's because God gives us faith. If we believe
him tomorrow, it's because God gives us faith. And in any time
or circumstance, you and I cannot and will not believe God except
God perform this work of faith in us. Faith is at no time the
work of man's nature. It is at no time something that's
conjured up from within. Faith is not something we muster
from within ourselves. It is the gift of God. Oh, gift
of gifts, oh, grace of faith. My God, how can it be that thou
who hast discerning love didst give this gift to me? Faith,
however, faith is not always a good thing. People these days
talk about faith and say, well, he's a man of faith. That doesn't
mean anything. That doesn't mean anything. False
faith is damning. It is not always good to have
faith. Faith in Allah will take you to hell. Faith in Buddha
will carry you to hell. Faith in a frog will take you
to hell. And faith in a false god, a false Christ, a false
spirit will take you to hell. False faith is damning. It is
not good. I don't just want to have faith.
I want to know God. I want to possess and live by
a God-given faith in Jesus Christ. And I want that for you. In this
day of mass evangelism and easy-believism and religious revivalism, multitudes
are deceived with false faith. The Bible makes it plain. that
there is such a thing as false faith. There are false Christ,
a false gospel, a false spirit, a false God, and a false faith. The devils, we're told, believe.
That's a false faith. They don't have faith in Christ.
Judas had faith, but Judas had a false faith, and he went to
hell. Many who call on the name of
the Lord have no real faith in him. And it's always been the
concern of God's servants that men and women to whom they preach
should have God-given faith in Christ. I want you to believe
on the Son of God, and I want you to know that you believe
on the Son of God. John Owen made this observation
back in the 1600s. Of all the poison which at this
day is diffused in the minds of men, corrupting them from
the mystery of the gospel. There is no part that is more
pernicious than this one perverse imagination that to believe in
Christ is nothing at all but to believe the doctrine of the
gospel. no greater poison than this perverse
imagination that to believe in Christ is to believe the doctrine
of the gospel. How can I say this adequately?
To believe every word in this book is not necessarily believe
in Christ. To believe all the right doctrine
in this book is not necessarily believe in Christ. You can believe
the right doctrine and not know God. You can believe the right
doctrine and still go to hell. Knowing God and knowing doctrine
are not synonymous. Knowing Christ and knowing truth
are not synonymous. You may know much truth and never
know him who is the truth. Now, I stress this. I stress
it because there are many, there are many, both well-worshippers
and folks who call themselves sovereign grace folks, Calvinists
and so on, who teach that men are saved because they know things. Get involved with Arminian folks
wanting to butt and hold you and make you make a profession
of faith and they'll take you down the Romans road and they'll
show you what you know is so and they say now if you agree
with these things say I agree with them and this is salvation.
Now say Jesus I believe in you saved me and that's it. That's
it. Others will tell you that by knowledge By arriving at a
measure of knowledge, understanding truth revealed in the gospel,
knowing gospel truth, then you have been born of the Spirit
of God. No. No. No, we have spiritual knowledge,
Alan, by being born again by the Spirit of God. We can chuck
our heads full of knowledge. and not have spiritual knowledge.
We take our children and teach them the knowledge of the gospel,
but that doesn't mean they have spiritual knowledge. We must
know Christ spiritually. This faith is a spiritual thing.
Paul was very much concerned for the saints at Corinth and
those at Galatia concerning their souls. Particularly at Galatia,
he said, I stand in doubt of you. I stand in doubt of you.
The Corinthians were behaving horribly contrary to the gospel
in moral perversity and decadence. It was just terrible. But Paul
said to the Galatians, I stand in doubt of you because the Galatians
were living and hoping that they, by their goodness, could commend
themselves to God. And so Paul writes very clearly
with regard to the gospel. Of all the snares by which Satan
carries the souls of men to hell, none is more deceiving, none
is more deadly than false faith. We have example after example
in the New Testament. The scriptures tell us plainly
that our Lord Jesus, when he performed miracles, performed
miracles that folks said they believed. And believing the miracles,
they said they believed on the Son of God. But our Lord did
not commit himself to them. He didn't believe them, which
is the same word. They believed him, but he didn't
commit himself to them because he knew their hearts. He knew
what it was. They saw the miracles and being
stunned with the miracle, they said, well, we believe that.
The same thing happens today. You have prophets of deceit who
claim to perform miracles and their hearers watch them and
see what they think are miracles being performed or perhaps who
do perform miracles. I don't deny that Satan raises
up men who are these days capable of performing miracles. The apostles
of Christ were identified by their ability to perform miracles. Second Thessalonians chapter
two tells us plainly that the prophets and apostles of Satan
perform miracles in these last days as messages of Antichrist. But people see the miracles and
seeing the miracles they say, well, I believe, I believe. And
they have experiences. They have experiences, spine-tingling
experiences. That's not necessarily faith.
There are others who have a historic or theoretical faith. That is,
they see the facts, Christ, death, burial, resurrection. I want
to show you some things here in just a little bit. They can't
be denied. They can't be denied by honest
men. They just cannot be denied. Somebody said, well, you believe
in that Jesus myth. No, it's not a myth. And you're
not honest if you call it that. You're a liar. You're a deceiver. Well, brother John, you can't
say men are liars and deceivers. No, I wouldn't, but God did.
God did. And the fact is, if you can believe
that Abraham Lincoln lived, if you can believe that Abraham
Lincoln lived, there's more credible evidence that Jesus Christ lived,
died, and rose again the third day than Abraham Lincoln lived. 500 men saw the risen Christ
at one time. And you say, well, you can't
deny that. I guess I believe that. That's
not faith. That's not faith. And many have a temporary faith,
faith that endures for a while. It may endure for a long time,
but not to the end. The faith of God's elect embraces
the miraculous, embraces the revelation of divine truth. But
the faith of God's elect endures forever. He that endureth to
the end, the same shall be saved. Read the word of God again and
be warned. Lot's wife, Judas, Saul, king
of Israel, Simon Magus, Ananias and Sapphira, Demas all stand
as beacons shining like glaring lights saying follow us This
is the way to hell to walk in false faith True faith is faith
found founded established based upon the Word of God There are
three things clearly involved in faith three things involved
in faith I've given this to you before they need repetition and
There is no faith without knowledge. Faith is not a leap in the dark.
True saving faith involves knowledge. That knowledge is imparted to
men by the preaching of the gospel, by instructing folks in the word
of God. We endeavor to teach our children
from their youth up the truth of God as is revealed in Holy
Scripture. We don't hesitate to teach them
Anything revealed in this book but knowledge alone is not saving
faith. You must know who you are. You
must know yourself a sinner or you'll never trust the Savior.
You must know who God is. You must know God in his true
character. You must know what and who God
declares you to be and who and what God declares himself to
be. You cannot have faith in Christ
without knowing Christ as he revealed in this book. To believe
on a false Christ is not faith. To believe your ideas about God
is not faith. Knowledge is essential. In order
to be saved, a man must know Jesus Christ the Lord. But knowledge
is not enough. There's also got to be an agreement,
an assent of the mind and of the heart. You hear the truth. And you agree this is so. This is right. This is right.
But assent is not enough. There's something else. There's
something else. It's called confidence. Commitment. Surrender. You see, that faith
that's born of God in the heart compels the voluntary surrender
of my life to Jesus Christ the Lord. It compels the voluntary
consecration, devotion of my life to Christ the Lord. That's
confidence in Him. That's confidence in Him. It's
trusting Him. Trusting Him. That chair there, I believe,
I believe that hold 300 pounds. You reckon it would? I believe
it would. See? I'm showing you. I believe
it would. No. Well, I've studied the chair
and I've seen other folks sit in it and look pretty strong. I believe it'll hold it. See
that? I believe it'll hold it. I don't know a better way to
tell you what I'm trying to tell you. is falling flat down on Christ
with everything. With everything. It's not just
trusting Him for the salvation of my soul, though certainly
it's that. It's not just trusting His righteousness and His blood,
though certainly it's that. It's trusting Him with everything. So that a man comes after Him
and forsakes all that he has and follows Christ. forsakes
all that it has and follows Christ. He hates father and mother and
brother and sister, yea, and his own life also, following
Christ. What's that mean? He gives no
regard to those things. He's following Christ. He's following
Christ. He lays his mother and father
and brother and sister and son and daughter and his own life
also in the hands of Christ. That's what it does. That's what
it does. And it's a continual consecration
and commitment of ourselves to the Son of God. And I repeat,
this is God's gift. This is God's gift. We would
never agree with what God says about Christ unless God the Holy
Ghost wrought a mighty change in our souls called the new birth,
making us new creatures in Christ. We would never believe what God
says about us unless God the Holy Spirit wrought a mighty
work in us, showing us what we are by nature. I talk to you
and other preachers come in and talk to you and tell you how
vile and base and corrupt man he is. And folks who aren't born
of God, I know exactly how they respond. I'm not that way. I'm not like that. I know I'm
not perfect, but I'm not that bad. I know I can't walk with
angels, but I'm not that bad. And you will never believe what
God says about you, himself, or his son, unless you're born
again by God the Holy Spirit. You see, faith is not just an
act of the heart. Faith is a condition from which
we act. Faith is a state of being. Faith
is our life. Men and women who are born of
God do acts of faith, but it's not the acts of faith that cause
us to be born of God. Rather, the acts of faith are
the evidence of faith within, created there by God the Spirit
in the gift of life. We see here John teaching us
something about this faith, identifying this true faith. First, understand
this. The foundation of true faith
is the inspired volume of Holy Scripture. John tells us this
in verses 14 through 16, speaking particularly about the apostles
and their writings. If we are to believe on the Lord
Jesus, we must believe him as he's revealed in this book. Faith
must have a reasonable foundation. It must have a reasonable basis. Faith must have that upon which
it is built and relies. And here it is. We have seen
and do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior
of the world. This is the authoritative declaration
of God himself by the apostles who saw the Lord's glory." John
said, we've seen and do testify. Peter put it this way, we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw Christ transfigured. John said, the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Turn back to chapter 1 of 1 John, 1 John chapter 1. These apostles, these men to
whom John is here referring when he says we, he's talking specifically
about the apostles, and certainly that includes us who follow the
apostles, but he's talking specifically about them. These men were men
whose honesty and integrity and uprightness was never questioned
by their enemies. It was never questioned by their
enemies. Never once were they charged with any kind of dishonesty
or any kind of immorality, though the scribes and Pharisees watched
them carefully. Not one of the apostles, not
one of them, was ever charged with any kind of moral misconduct. Not one of them was charged with
any kind of deviant behavior. They had nothing whatever to
gain by their testimony, but rather everything to lose. They
knew they would be persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death
for their testimony, but they could not be silent. The testimony
they gave was the inspired, infallible testimony of God the Holy Spirit
given to us in the words of Holy Scripture. And this is how they
speak of him whom they saw, of whom Moses and Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and David and Malachi and Micah and all the prophets
spoke. Look at verse 1, 1 John chapter 1. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word
of life. For the life was manifested and
we've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. We're not
passing along secondhand information. That which we've seen and heard
declare we unto you. That you also may have fellowship
with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you about these
apostles. They were men who saw God in the flesh with their eyes. They saw God in the flesh with
their eyes, and when they saw him with their physical eyes,
they saw him with the eyes of their souls in God-given faith. They saw him as one possessing
the very glory of God. They saw Christ in all the perfection
of his being. They examined him. They saw others
examine him. They saw the Lord Jesus as Matthew
and Mark tell us when he was tempted of Satan. Satan found
nothing in him. He found nothing in him. These
apostles saw the Lord Jesus walking on this earth. They heard him.
They handled him. They felt him. They knew him.
They saw his compassion. They saw the Christ of God on
the Mount of Transfiguration, and they saw the Christ of God
in the Garden of Gethsemane. They saw God die in their stead
upon the cursed tree. They saw Him risen from the dead,
and they saw Him ascend up into heaven. Now, if you came and told me
you saw those things, I would correct you. And if you persisted,
I'd laugh a little. And if you kept on persisting,
I'd walk away. Because I'd know you hadn't seen those things.
And I don't care what you testified to it, I don't care how you assert
it, I'd know you haven't seen those things. But these men saw
the Lord Jesus numerous times after his resurrection. They
saw him numerous times after he came out of the grave. And
then they were gathered together, and one day he was called up
to heaven with them looking at him. And they watched him ascend
up into glory. Now, they were not hallucinating,
as some would have you believe. If they had been hallucinating,
they wouldn't have all hallucinated the same thing. At one time,
500 saw the risen Savior. At one time, they saw Him ascend
up into glory. He appeared in their midst and
He said, now, come here. Put your fingers right here. Feel this. A spirit doesn't have
flesh and bones like you see me have. It's really me. It's really me. He demonstrated
it to them. And these men bear witness, one
unified witness of that which they saw, and every word they
speak, every word they speak is consistent with every word
spoken by every other inspired writer. Not one contradiction. You'll hear somebody say, well,
the Bible's full of contradictions. You know who says that? Folks
who never bothered to read it. They're not in a contradiction.
They're all in complete agreement, one with another. Now here's
the testimony they give concerning Him. Having seen His glory, having
witnessed His works, they said, the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world. They give witness to the triune
God who sent His Son, sent His Son on an errand of mercy, sent
His Son to be the Savior of the world. Now obviously John is
not telling us that God sent his son to be the savior of everybody
in the world. If that were what he were telling
us, then he's telling us that Jesus Christ, that one who was
sent of God, is a miserable failure in the specific thing he came
here to accomplish. Because multitudes are in hell.
Some were in hell when he came. Obviously, he did not come here
to save everybody in the world. But the father sent his son to
save his elect, Jew and Gentile, to save his elect wherever they're
found, anywhere in the world, of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue, male and female, learned and unlearned, old and
young. He sent his son to be the savior of the world. Not
only did the apostles testify to these things, but their testimony
was enforced by the witness of each one confirming the same
thing. And every honest person, when
confronted with these facts, must and is compelled to believe
the testimony of God. Every honest person, when confronted
with these facts, must and is compelled to believe the testimony
of God. And we who are taught of God We believe the revelation
of God in the scriptures. We believe God who spoke through
the apostles. We believe that man, Christ Jesus,
is God manifest in the flesh. We believe that Christ alone
is the Savior of the world, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved, save the name of our Lord Jesus. By virtue
of his death as our substitute, by virtue of his vicarious atonement,
the risen Christ is able and willing to save all who come
to God by him. Look at chapter 5, 1 John chapter
5. Those who truly possess faith
in Christ are united to God. He that hath the Son by living
faith hath the Father also. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. We have it. We were told in verse
15. Now look at chapter 5, verse 11. This is the record. This is the record. John says,
this book you got in your hand, Bob. This is the record. This
is what this book tells you. This is the record. that God
hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son.
It is in union with His Son and flows from His Son. This life
that God gives us in the experience of His grace in time is eternal
life without beginning and without end. He gives it to us, eternal
life. We experience it as everlasting
life, but it's eternal life. Read on, verse 12. He that hath
the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God." Bowing to the revelation of God in Scripture,
we confess that Jesus is the Son of God. We confess that Jesus
the man is God eternal. We confess that the eternal Son
of God came into this world in human flesh, one of us, in our
flesh, in our nature. We confess that the incarnate
Son of God actually accomplished the everlasting salvation of
our souls by His obedience in death. And we confess that He
is the only all-sufficient effectual Savior of sinners. Our confession
of faith isn't just a mental thing. It's a heart work arising
from the experience of His grace in the soul by Christ revealed
in us, by the love of Christ conveyed to our hearts, made
manifest in our hearts, shed abroad in our hearts by God the
Holy Spirit. If you've been talked into a
profession of faith coerced into some profession of faith by some
slick-souled winner, that's not what I'm talking about. If you've
been forced by logic and reason to acknowledge these things are
so, that's not what I'm talking about. No, no. This faith in
Christ is that which comes about by the irresistible power of
God the Holy Spirit. Now, write this down somewhere,
you need to get it. Faith is not a choice. Faith in Christ is not a choice.
Faith makes choices, but faith in Christ is not a choice. Unbelief
is a choice. Unbelief is a decision, not faith. Faith in Christ is a state of
life. state of being and you believe
on the Son of God because you can't help it You can't help
it. I've said this so many times Sinners born of God find themselves
believing on the Son of God Bill you didn't decide to believe
you you've been in Been in church as long as I've known you, and
longer than that. And sometime, you told me a few years ago,
I found myself believing. But I didn't decide to. I decided
to a long time ago, but I couldn't. I wanted to a long time ago,
but I couldn't. But then, a man, a woman, born again, and he,
by an irresistible force in his soul, he believes God. because he's constrained by the
love of Christ shed abroad in his heart. Believing on the Son
of God, recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Savior. With the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness. Believes with reference to righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. We confess that which we experience
in our souls with reference to salvation. Christ is my Savior. Now, the foundation of our faith
is the Word of God. The constraint of it is the love
of Christ we experience. Look at the book here again in
1 John chapter 4, verse 16. We have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love. He that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Paul said, the love
of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ shed abroad
in our hearts constrains us to believe him. The love of Christ
constrains us to confess him. The love of Christ constrains
us to live for him. The history of our Lord Jesus,
as is recorded by the apostles upon the pages of inspiration,
is the history of God's love for us. All his transactions
in and with his son were testimonies of his love for us. What John
is saying is this, believing the message of the gospel, we
have known and experienced the love of God. I wonder if I can say this in
such a way as to make you understand it. I know that Jesus loves me and
that's enough for me. Lindsay, I know that I'm loved
of God. I know that I'm loved of God. Most of you are aware, I'm pretty
well convinced this pretty blonde over here loves me. I'm pretty
well convinced she does. I'm indescribably more convinced
that God loves me. But how do you know she loves
you? You watch and you tell me she loves me. Ain't she got to
love him and treat him like she does? God's got to love me to treat
me like he does. He sent his son to redeem me.
He gave me life in his son. He speaks to me by His Son. He
dwells in me with His Son. He sends His Spirit to me by
His Son. We know the love of God by the
clear manifestation of Christ in us. And we know the love of
God by the revelation of His love in us by His Spirit. The
love of God is known nowhere else and in no other way except
in Christ. and Christ in you. God is love. He that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God and God in him. What on earth, John,
are you saying? What do you say? We who believe God Live in God. We live in the Spirit. Read the
chapter of Romans. You're not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. We have a whole different realm of existence
than that in which we were born by nature. We live in the Spirit.
We live in God. We dwell, we live in the love
of God. We live in the love of God, all
my soul. So that God's love for us is
not just an occasional thing that he does or shows. Merle Hart, we live in God's
love. We live in God's love. And God lives in us. That's what
it tells us in verse 16. We live in God. We live in the
love of God and God lives in us. Now, very quickly look at
verses 17 through 21. I'll come back to this several
times in the next few weeks. Herein is our love made perfect. Now, if you read that just like
that, it seems obvious to me. It seems obvious to me that John
switches gears. He's been talking about God's
love. And he'd been talking about faith in Christ. And now he says,
herein is our love made perfect. But reading it that way, it seems
obvious to me that that's not an accurate translation. It would
better be translated Herein is love made perfect. Herein is
love made perfect. The fact is David Byrd's love
is never made perfect. So the word means complete. All
right, try that on. Complete. Your love, not a chance. Not a chance. That means finished. Your love,
not a chance. What's he talking about? Herein
is love with us made perfect. The love of God for us, the love
of God toward us reaches its climax, reaches its crescendo,
reaches its finishing point, reaches its completion when we
have boldness before God. Boldness before God. We read the other day about Abijah,
the king in Judah. His name means Father Jehovah. And that's a name every man could
covet. Every man could covet. But what
man would dare be so presumptuous as to give his son such a name
unless he did so being directed by God in the spirit? Father
Jehovah. Who can make such a claim? Everybody in whose heart the
love of God is shed abroad lifts his heart to heaven and says,
have a father. Jehovah is my father. God is
my father. So that we have boldness. Boldness
at the throne of grace. Boldness before the throne of
God. And boldness in the day of judgment. Boldness so that
we have no reason to fear God. No reason to be afraid of meeting
God face to face. No reason to dread standing before
God in judgment. No reason. Not if you believe
God. Not if you dwell in love and
dwell in God and God dwells in you. Oh no, His love has reached
its completion in you so that you may have boldness before
God. Watch this now. Because As he is. As he is. Who's he talking about? The Lord Jesus. This is where
we get this boldness, Brother Rennery. As he is. Not as he was, as he is. As Christ
is right now, seated on the throne of God, as he is, so shall we
be. That's not what it says, is it?
As He is, so are we in this world. You mean, pastor, sinners loved
of God, born of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, called
by His Spirit? You mean these are new creatures
in Christ? We are just exactly like Jesus Christ right now,
right now, right now. Now what's the next word? There
is no fear in love. No fear in love. No reason to
be afraid. And that's not talking about,
well, there's no fear if you love God. No fear if you love somebody
else. They've got no reason to be afraid.
You've got no reason to be afraid. That's not what it's talking
about. If God loves me. There's no reason for me to be
afraid. There's no fear in love. Watch this. But perfect love,
God's perfect love, casteth out all fear, because fear has torment. He that feareth, he knows nothing
about this perfect love. The love of God is not made perfect
in him. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. Verse 20, if a man say I love
God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? Now, John here speaks to us concerning that which is
the fruit of this love of God shed abroad in our hearts and
this gift of faith which God's given us. God's people love each
other. God's people love God's people.
Those who are of the same nature, of the same disposition, of the
same character, of the same body, of the same family, of the same
head, of the same redeemer, of the same God, love each other. God's people do. You say, well,
they ought to. Yep, they ought to, and they
do. They do. And this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Now here's the identification
of true faith. First, it confesses Christ. Second,
it lives in the assurance of God's love. True faith confesses
Christ. True faith lives in the assurance
of God's love. True faith, thirdly, loves God. Loves God. I've been trying to find out everything
I can about God in this book for the past 46 years. I've been trying to find everything
I can. And I'll tell you what I found
in this book. Everything I read here about God is delightful
to my soul. I love Him just like He is, don't
you? Just like He is. I wouldn't have
Him change a thing. Just like He is. True faith does.
and true faith loves the people of God. Our Father, O God, our Father, how we thank you for the blessed
gift of faith, faith in your Son, created by you in us by
the shedding abroad of your love in our hearts by your Spirit.
Thank you for the instruction of your Word, I thank you for these, my brothers
and sisters in Christ. God, I thank you for them. Thank
you for bringing us together, for knitting our hearts together
in the blessed fellowship of the gospel, for giving us hearts
to care for one another, to love one another. And we ask our Father
that you'll teach us by your grace how to show that love. Give us grace to bridle our tongues,
govern our passions, and make us to burn in love for our God,
our Savior, and in love one for another. God, forgive us of our
sin and use us in this generation, I ask for Christ's sake. For our friends who are enduring
sickness and whose bodies are decaying so rapidly, We ask your
special mercy upon them. Joyce and Kathy and Mary and
their families, God help us to be helpful to them and I ask
your mercy upon them. Thank you for them. Thank you
for the blessed prospect of eternal life with Christ in glory. Amen. Major, let's send a hammer. We dismiss for that.